Retribution of Tyria
by The Egyptian Lovers
Summary: Four friends, fresh from the academy are thrown into the deep end when war breaks out over Ascalon. As their battle continues however, they find that there is more to it than meets the eye, and their journey will span far and wide...
1. Versatile Differences

As a pre warning, this is going to be an **extremely long **fanfic, so i hope you like reading! This is our very first guild wars fan fiction, written by three different authors (read more about us in our profile). Hope you enjoy chapter one!

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**_Retribution of Tyria_**

**Chapter One-Versatile Differences**

"Ok, this is simple, just take a name from the box, hand it to me, and then proceed to the waiting area." Half of the people were all scurrying forward to draw a name from the box which was placed on a table in front of the man who had spoken these words. He was a pale man, bald, with tattoos where you could only assume hair must once have sat, and wearing robes of bright white. This mans name was Mhenlo, and he was in charge of the tournament that the Prince himself had organised.

The hopefuls from the academy had been whittled down to sixteen people, all of different professions, waiting patiently for their turn to draw an opponent. An intimidating looking man had just walked over to the waiting area, as he was one of those who was going to be selected from the box, he did not need to select anyone himself.

A man then approached the table, however unlike the other man, he looked more anxious about the tournament. He was tall, with dark hair which was all neatly slicked back so that it nearly touched his shoulders, and wearing robes of a vibrant red colour. No one knew this mans real name, as he chose not to disclose it to anyone, and so therefore went by the name of Blaze, a name which he had adopted due to his love of fire.

Blaze placed his hand into the box and drew out a piece of yellow parchment which was folded roughly. He unfolded it carefully and looked at the name which was written on it. To his horror, it was none other than 'Quickshot', the man who had walked over to the waiting area. Blaze handed the parchment over to Mhenlo, and then went to sit down in the waiting area, being sure to keep a fair distance away from Quickshot, who was watching him with an evil look in his eyes.

One more person drew a name from the box, and then a small woman approached the table, looking calm and collected. She had a bright shade of blue hair, a pale complexion and in great contrast to Blaze wore robes of light blue, which blended well with her hair. Her name was Carrie Senyah. Carrie made a piece of neatly folded parchment fly straight into her hand. Mhenlo smiled at this unnecessary use of magic, but she handed him the parchment which said 'Elissa' who Carrie knew was a monk, then went to sit next to Blaze, who she had always got on rather well with.

Two more people drew names from the box. A man now approached the table, he was tall, with spiked up jet black hair, was thin yet not too thin to be like a corpse, and had a mysterious scar across one cheek. This man's name was Seregei 'Spellcaster', and right now he had a look of shear determination on his face. He drew a name, and saw that he would be facing a warrior by the name of Sara Nirtchot. He smiled, then walked over and sat down on Carrie's right side.

One more person drew a name from the box, until at last they were down to the last person. This woman had a very strange hair colour, as though it had been dyed in blood. She was medium height and thin, but everyone knew that despite her size her strength was still something to reckon with, especially in the heat of battle. One thing that made her most mysterious was a scar that she had across her right eye, which looked as though it should have blinded her, yet her vision was still perfect. She usually covered up the scar with her hair however, as she did not like people questioning her about it. Her name was Kaska Zurik. Kaska drew the remaining name from the box, which was a Mesmer called Malachi. She smiled, handed the parchment over to Mhenlo, then walked over and sat down to the left of Blaze.

"...So?" Carrie whispered to Blaze, who was staring at the floor, trying not to think about the duel he was about to have, "Who did you get?"

Blaze looked at her, about to answer, but then...

"Ok people, I need to let you know how this is going to work." Mhenlo had walked over. He had just finished writing down the pairs for the first round. "Most of the academy has turned out to watch this, so no pressure, now...the rules..."

Everyone was now listening intently to his words, as he unravelled a scroll, and started to read down the list of rules.

"I thought anything goes? Why do we need rules...?" Kaska asked, evidently just wanting to get on with the whole thing.

Mhenlo looked over at her. "Not that this rule applies to your necrotic self Kaska, but the first rule is no decapitation. We do want to be able to bring people back in the event of death..." Some people laughed. "Right, now without any more interruptions the rest of the rules are... Use of pets is strictly forbidden as it is seen as an unfair advantage..." Blaze perked up a bit at this, as Quickshot relied a lot on his pet stalker, "...Winners must proceed directly to the platform to observe the rest of the fights...if you surrender you must drop your weapon and come back here to the waiting area, and when surrendering, no surprise attacks or you WILL be disqualified."

Mhenlo then rolled up the scroll. People were surprised at how short the list was. "Good luck to all of you...and remember…he who kills first, wins." He then left towards the arena, as he was acting as the healer.

The scribe whom Mhenlo had been handing all the names too then walked over to them. "The first round will begin shortly, those not participating must remain here until it is their turn to battle. The first round will be between Blaze and Quickshot."

Carrie's mouth opened slightly in shock. She knew that this was about the last person that Blaze would have wanted to fight. Quickshot however merely scoffed and said "Let's hope whoever I fight in round two is more of a challenge..."

Carrie made a movement as if to go and slap him, but Blaze stopped her and said "It's not worth it..."

"Blaze...Quickshot, please follow me to the arena. The rest of you, wait here for your turn..." Everyone watched as the two of them walked slowly behind the scribe.

There was a deadly silence which filled the room now. Kaska broke the silence. "Bet Quickshot gets his ass kicked..." Seregei and Carrie laughed, "...I mean think about it, he is useless without that ugly pet of his..."

"But still, Blaze is going in with a lack of confidence. Those two hate each other and I think it is going to put him off." Carrie said, looking concerned.

"Well you are a right little ray of sunshine aren't you?" Seregei replied.

They heard the sound of a whistle, which could only mean one thing, the tournament had begun...

Nobody spoke, the only sounds that they could hear now were from the audience; horrible gasps and many screams at what must have been a terrible fight taking place. After about five minutes, there was a loud burst of applause, and then murmuring from the audience again, which could only mean that it was over.

Everyone was waiting to see who was going to come back into the waiting area in defeat. A few seconds later the door was opened, and a warrior walked in with none other than Quickshot slung over his shoulder.

He looked awful, Mhenlo had revived him, but now he had to go and be seen to by many other monks so he could be restored to fighting health.

"Ok...I won the bet, where's my money?" Kaska said with a broad smile.

"...you didn't bet any money." Carrie pointed out.

"Blaze was the winner!" The scribe exclaimed, to the remaining participants. There was a round of applause, and then the scribe led the next two people out to the arena...

-

"Well...that was interesting." Blaze said to Carrie, Sergei and Kaska. All of them had managed to get through, and now they had an hour to go until the second round began.

"Yeah...I thought I was done for!" Carrie said, sporting a fresh cut down her leg which was healing at an amazing rate before their very eyes.

"Too easy...!" Seregei said who seemed to be the only one who was unscathed out of them all.

"Delicious." Kaska chimed, licking the blood from her lips that she had missed. "I am glad they didn't ban vampiric skills as one of the rules..." She smiled widely, and Blaze felt a little bit sick.

The four of them decided that it would be best to rest before the next round of the tournament. Blaze didn't really object to this, he just wanted to be as far away from Quickshot as he possibly could when he was brought back to health, as he had the nasty feeling that he was going to attempt to put an arrow through his head.

As they walked, trying to find somewhere to settle down, they eventually came to the library, which they thought would be a suitable place to stay. Seregei and Kaska immediately started up conversation once they had sat down, not bothering to keep their voices down as they were the only people present.

"Did you see him though? The idiot thought that slowing me down was going to stop me, what a coward…" Kaska laughed, as did Seregei.

Carrie did not feel much like joining in on the conversation, and so went to pick out a book which would best help her in the matches to come. She finally settled on a book entitled 'Water, the more tranquil way to kill'.

"You are only saying that because he nearly hexed you to death by the time you got there." Seregei said in a joking way. Kaska laughed, which was remarkable, as she did not usually take to jokes like that.

Blaze was the only one not doing anything, he was too focused on being nervous about the upcoming match more than anything. Since all of them had got through, there was a high chance that two of them would be facing each other, something that was ok in training, but in a competition like this he was afraid it would make their relationships falter.

The hour went past in what seemed like no time at all. Before they knew it there was a voice ringing out in what must have been the whole academy. The four of them recognised the voice as Mhenlo's.

"Will those who are participating in round two please return to the waiting area, those who are watching, please make your way to the arena now." His voice sounded perfectly calm as it always did.

Carrie decided to mark where she was in her book by folding over one of the corners of the page. Blaze quickly looked over at it to see the title of a chapter 'Farewell Fear of Fire' before she replaced it upon the bookshelf.

"Who are you hoping to get?" Kaska asked, as if addressing everyone with very little effort.

"None of you." Blaze replied, very quickly. He was hoping beyond anything that he was going to be facing someone that he either didn't know very well, or disliked. It was that, he thought, which had carried him through round one.

"Same." Carrie added.

"Oh I don't know…" Seregei said, not a tone of worry in his voice, "…I don't mind who I get as long as I have… 'Fun'…"

Kaska snorted, now deeply hoping that she would be against him for round two, but knowing that the odds of here getting what she wanted were very slim. They all received a shock to find themselves standing outside the door which lead to the chamber that was being used for the waiting area, all of them had forgotten just how close it was to the library.

They entered, Kaska in the lead. They were the first there, evidently the rest of the participants had wandered further off for their break. They sat back down in the seats which they had used previously, then waited for everyone else to arrive. The only other people present in the room at this time were Mhenlo and the Scribe.

Slowly but surely, the remaining four who had made it into this round entered the room. They could all also hear the noise from the crowd who were outside, waiting. It sounded like there were more people there than before, though it was very difficult to tell without actually seeing them. The four that had entered looked like it would make an interesting line up for round two. Fortunately for Blaze, he knew none of them that well. There was a Monk, who he knew by sight but had no idea what she was called. A Warrior, who he vaguely remembered from the first round, and finally, a male and female ranger who he could not recall ever seeing in his life.

"Just so you all know, so as to keep the tournament unpredictable we have randomised the pairings for this round." Mhenlo announced. "I wish you all the best of luck, so do your best out there." He walked back out into the arena.

"Right!" Said the Scribe, walking forward to address them all. "The first two heading out into the arena will be…" They all seemed to be holding their breath as he consulted his parchment, "…Eva and Hayden."

At this, the two rangers looked at each other nervously. Then without saying a word to each other, they followed the scribe out to the arena. There was a huge cheer from the crowd, which died down rather quickly.

Carrie, Blaze, Seregei and Kaska all looked at each other. It was now inevitable that two of them would be facing each other, and it was only a matter of time before they found out whom. Kaska got up and started pacing back and forth in front of all of them. Seregei had dropped the brave face he had put on earlier, and looked like he was trying to master his nerves. The only one out of all of them who looked completely calm was Carrie.

The fight seemed to go on for a good fifteen minutes. Obviously the two rangers had trained together, and must have known each others fighting styles particularly well compared to anyone else. Seregei however, had the feint idea that they were not trying too hard against each other. Unlike the rest of them, he knew that there was something going on between them.

Eventually there was a huge roar of cheering from the crowd, and they all waited with baited breath to see who had won. The man, Hayden, was being carried off by the usual warrior. Kaska smirked, she had privately been hoping that the female would win.

Now the tension was really mounting. If the Monk and the Warrior were put against each other, it would mean that all four of the friends would be put against one another.

"Ok, moving on. The next two are…Blaze…" Blaze looked up, this was the moment of truth, to see if he would be fighting one of his best friends, "… and Carrie…Oh no wait! I'm sorry, I meant Creisa."

Blaze breathed a sigh of relief as he got to his feet and walked with the Monk to the arena, following the Scribe. The usual cheer sounded, and the fighting began. The tension was now so high in the waiting area, that Carrie was sure if she said a word Kaska would have cursed her into pieces. Seregei got to his feet and started pacing next to Kaska.

"Well…could be anyone couldn't it? I mean they have already demonstrated that they aren't afraid to put people of the same profession up against each other…" Seregei voiced, cautiously, so as not to test Kaska's nerves.

Not a moment later, the battle was over. This was the shortest one of the whole tournament, and seconds later, Creisa was being carried off.

Carrie looked over at her as she was being taken to the medics. "To be honest I don't think she stood a chance…I was talking to her before the match, said she was going to concentrate on offence rather than defence throughout the tournament… stupid girl…"

The scribe returned, parchment unfolded at the ready. "Right…Carrie and Seregei, you next, follow me please."

Carrie blinked, she had tried to expect the worse, but that didn't prepare her for this. Seregei looked down at her. He opened his mouth, tried to say something, but nothing happened.

Carrie got to her feet and walked alongside Seregei to the arena. Kaska looking dumbstruck in their wake.

-

"You fight very well." Eva said to Blaze as they awaited the next pair to enter the arena. "It is different though, when you are put against one of your friends…"

Blaze looked at her, and was startled to see that she looked miserable, even though she had made it through into the semi finals. Right on cue, the next pair walked out into the middle of the Arena. He was shocked to see Carrie and Seregei standing there.

Blaze could distinctly see Carrie say 'Good Luck' to Seregei, before they walked off to opposite ends of the massive dome shaped arena. It was the duty of the most recent winner to announce the start of the round; Eva had fired an arrow into the air which exploded to start off Blaze's round.

He did not want to set the game in motion, but knew he had to. A second later, he began manipulating a flame in the nearest torch, sent it high, high into the air, and it exploded with the sound of a bomb right above the centre of the dome.

If anything, Blaze was more worried for Carrie, as she was using water magic. She would be hard done by to use any of it when there was not a drop of water close than the Diessa Lowlands. She seemed however, to be prepared for this. A faint aura appeared around her of what appeared to be mist, making her difficult to see, which was lucky, as Seregei sent a blast so powerful at her from his truncheon he was sure it would have finished her off if it had hit.

Looking more carefully at her, Blaze noticed a small hip flask attached to her waist, which must have been where she had gotten the water from to manipulate.

The fighting was almost too much for Blaze to watch. More than once, Seregei removed the aura from around Carrie, and then caught her with a terrible blow from a curse. Carrie was obviously more powerful than she looked, as it did not even knock her down.

The fighting went on for what must have been even longer than Eva's fight. "You see? Different when you know them too well…"

Blaze was not sure who he wanted to win, but it was torture to see them fighting, and wished that one of them would finish it. Seregei performed a curse which made Carrie fall to her knees with weakness, and it looked like it was all over. Then, with strength that must have consumed all of her remaining energy, Carrie conjured a gale so powerful that it knocked Seregei down, she then threw her remaining precious water into the air, turned it into sharp, dagger like ice shards with a swish of her staff, and brought them down on Seregei.

He was now, quite clearly, dead. Carrie fell forward, panting in exhaustion. Mhenlo ran forward and hurriedly revived Seregei as another monk removed the dagger shards. They then tended to Carrie, which seemed to take no time at all. She walked over to them, a smile on her face very faintly, and watched as Seregei was carried off.

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Author's notes: Ok, so you're starting to get to know our main characters, on an interesting note all of them (except Seregei) are based on our own characters from the game.

**Erik The Phantom- Blaze**

**Kaska Zurik- Kaska Zurik**

**Carrie Senyah- Carrie Senyah**

So if you like then add us in game and we will get in touch. Otherwise please review and let us know what you think, pleeeeeeeaaaaase no flames! Flames are not nice, there is a difference between them and con-crit, and con-crit would be appreciated. Otherwise next chapter will be uploaded on the 6th of July D. Until next time...

R&A&M


	2. Only Four Remain

**Anon. Reviews Reply's**

**Lewi300146- **Thanks for the reviiieeeeew! Your wait to see Kaska's fight is over now fortunately :D. Glad you like the whole concept of how elementalists use magic, we weren't too sure how people were going to take to that. Enjoy the chapter :).

As promised here is chapter two for you all. Would just like to say that any anon. reviews that are left for chapter one will be replied to on this page (we will update it whenever we get a new review instead of waiting until the next chapter is going to be put up to reply). Anyways enough of all that, hope you enjoy the second chapter...!

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**Chapter 2 – Only Four Remain**

Carrie's smile disappeared very quickly, she looked remorseful at her actions from the fight. She sighed and went over to stand next to Blaze who put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He'll be ok, you know he won't hold it against you."

Carrie looked at Blaze and smiled. "I know, but I feel I should apologise when he is feeling better."

"Seregei won't hold it against you, you know he isn't that kind of guy. But I must say I didn't expect you to be so resourceful." Eva told her from where she was standing, it was evident that she had never really seen Carrie fight like that before.

"There will be a half hour break before the next match begins." Mhenlo's voice echoed round the arena.

"I think I should go see him, make sure he is alright while I have time." She said concerned. Blaze walked with her, following her down a corridor and to a room marked with a red cross.

Carrie knocked quietly on the door, which opened to reveal another monk, a young woman who's name was Alesia. She was wearing robes of beige colouring, and like Mhenlo had tattoos marked on her head. "Can I see Seregi?" Carrie asked in a whisper.

"He is still in recovery, I'm afraid that only one person can be allowed in at a time, I'll give you twenty five minutes." She said opening the door further. Carrie walked in and then the door came to a close leaving Blaze stood in the empty corridor.

Twenty minutes seemed to pass in no time at all for the next thing Blaze remembered hearing was an announcement like before only this time the voice said. "Reminder that there is ten minutes left before the beginning of the next fight, would all participants and members of the audience please make their way back to the arena. Thank you."

Blaze leant against the wall letting out a deep sigh, when he heard someone else's footsteps getting louder, he turned to see Kaska heading towards him.

"Any news?" She asked monotonically, flicking a bit of hair out of her eyes.

"Carrie went in around twenty minutes ago still waiting with him, hadn't you better get back and wait for your round?" Blaze replied.

"They can wait, I just want to check he is alright. I just hope its nothing too serious." Kaska began to pace the corridor, looking impatient. Blaze sensed she was a little tense but also worried for Seregei.

"I'll let you know if there is a change in his condition, I'm sure he will be alright." He told her reassuringly.

Kaska sighed. "Carrie must feel awful." Blaze shrugged.

"Seriously Kaska, you could be disqualified if you don't go now, they are probably waiting for you."

Kaska looked ready to put a curse on him, but she knew he was right. She spun on her heel and walked back towards the entrance to the arena.

Kaska looked out towards her opponent, a male warrior who was waiting, she knew they were the last of this round. Kaska looked over at him to see he was already looking back, behind that hard exterior his eyes revealed all. Knowing that her opponent was scared if not weary of her made Kaska smile slyly.

"Good luck." Blaze said from behind her. He then went back over to the winners platform.

Kaska smirked back. "Thanks, but I doubt I'll need it." She called after him before heading off.

Carrie then walked briskly out towards the arena knowing it was her time to announce the start of Kaska's fight. She walked out into the arena where both Warrior and Necromancer were waiting. Carrie raised her hand as her eyes started to glow a faint tint of blue, water rose up from the ground taking on the form of a snake like creature, it then slithered its way over to Kaska, then to Cedric, slithering in a figure of eight in the air around them. Carrie's hand shot up making the snake swirl upward like a cork screw then it exploded into raindrops.

Kaska looked at Carrie who gave a small nod, indicating Seregei was ok, and she felt relieved, as that was something else off her mind. Now she could focus on her fight, she then looked back at Cedric, smiling wickedly.

-

Carrie and Blaze were stood on the platform watching the two opposing sides analyse one another.

"Is Seregei going to be alright?" Blaze asked softly.

Still looking out toward the arena, Carrie nodded.

"Impressive use of water magic there... where did you learn that trick?" He said, trying to take her mind off Seregei.

"I made it up." She responded. Making Blaze's eyes widen slightly at the way she had so spontaneously demonstrated her manipulation of water magic. He turned his attention back to the fight.

-

"Ha! How are you meant to fight me without your weapon?" Cedric called over to her, as if to taunt her.

"Consider yourself lucky I do not have my staff." She told him, putting her two arms over her head. The Warrior's jaw dropped as she slowly pulled out two identical swords and held them in a cross formation in front of her. "Now we are even… meet the twins." She grinned.

The Warrior made a cry as he raised his sword and then ran at Kaska, who made no attempt to move out of the way. He then brought his sword down above her head, but with one swift movement, Kaska had blocked it with a 'chink' of the swords colliding with one another, the 'twins' 

still in their X formation. Kaska then pushed the swords up sending Cedric's sword up slightly, she then brought her foot up, kicking the Warrior squarely in the chest, sending him back two steps.

"If you really want to beat me, you will have to do much better than that." She said quietly.

What happened next was so sudden, that Blaze and Carrie almost winced. Cedric charged over at Kaska knocking her on her back, just as a sword sliced through the air, Kaska made a side roll out of the way. The sword narrowly missed her, but had managed to catch a few strands of her blood red hair. Quickly getting up she made a hissing sound.

"Getting better, but can you handle this!"

Kaska's eyes began to glow white as she opened her mouth from which black mist began to pour out and travel over to where Cedric was stood. "I can't see!" Cedric yelled as the darkness swallowed him.

-

"She's conjuring a deathly swarm." Carrie informed Blaze as her second profession was also Necromancer. "She's angry now, that warrior had better be careful is all I can say."

He nodded in agreement and took a sharp breath as the swarm started to subside. Revealing the Warrior on his knees weaker than before. Kaska licked her lips in satisfaction.

"What exactly did that do…?" He asked Carrie curiously.

"It's a spell, a kind of death magic that strikes at an enemy with a piercing cold, leaving you chilled and weak. With that heavy armour he is wearing, it will be even harder for him to move around as his strength will have been sapped from a swarm that size." Carrie sighed.

-

Kaska then walked over to the pale shivering Cedric and held one of the swords against his throat. "I'm surprised you're still here after that move." She bent down and whispered to him. "Do you want me to make it easy for you? I can get you out of this tournament quickly if you like."

Cedric growled and made a swift movement with his arm.

"Ahhhh!" Kaska yelled, she stood up looking down at her chest where it was bleeding furiously.

Cedric had got to his feet again. "I came here to fight fair and square, no deals, no nothing especially with you!" He shouted at her.

"Suit yourself." She replied. Swiping at him with one of her swords, Cedric dodged and used an uppercut, this time catching her arm.

"You must like hurting your opponents." She hissed as he made another lunge for her. She dodged this time and brought her swords down above Cedric's arm and with a clean swipe severed it.

Cedric howled in excruciating pain as half of his arm fell to the floor.

-

Carrie couldn't stomach seeing that and ran off inside, trying her best not to bring her stomach contents up and over the floor. Blaze too looked away feeling sick. All he could hear was the Warrior crying with absolute pain he never ever wanted to experience listening too again. He looked back hopelessly at the Warrior, his arm bleeding madly, his face was now as pale as a 

ghost. He looked alarmed as he saw Kaska getting geared up for another strike on her opponent. If they didn't stop the bleeding Cedric would surely die.

Cedric was now crying from the pain, Kaska held up her hand which had a slight aura round it, she walked over towards him. "It's been fun." She said quietly, bending down and placing her hand on his head. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he was stone dead a silent remaining tear running down his cheek.

Mhenlo hurried over towards Cedric and brought him back on the feign of consciousness. He then turned to the warrior who had picked him up "Take him to Alesia, see if she can do anything about his arm." Mhenlo tended to Kaska as Cedric was carried off by the warrior who had taken the other fighters to recovery. Kaska then headed towards the spot from where Carrie and Blaze had observed her fight as Mhenlo's voice boomed out over the cheering crowd.

"We are now down to our last four contestants who will face one another in the semi-finals for the Champion title. Our Semi-finalists are Blaze, Carrie Senyah, Kaska Zurik and Eva Sharpe. This will take place tomorrow at half past ten. Until then rest up and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Thank you."

The sounds of the crowd began to die down as they left the arena. The four remaining contestants walked slowly back to the waiting area. They sat down and struck up conversation whilst waiting for Mhenlo.

"How are your stomachs?" Kaska asked sarcastically.

"Better." Carrie replied, she still looked very pale. "Could have done without seeing that though."

"Hmm." Blaze agreed.

"On another note, looking forward to the semi's tomorrow?" Eva asked them.

"No!" Blaze replied quickly. He was secretly hoping he would face Eva, how he would hate to be put up against one of his friends, he knew they wouldn't take it to heart, but it was still something he didn't want to go through.

Carrie looked calmer now, she was in thought though. "I don't really know. In some ways I'm fine with it and in others I'm not. I can't really explain." She sighed.

Kaska was smiling. "Well as long as you lot put up a better fight than that Cedric, then I don't mind."

"I will try." Said Eva, "At least I don't have to face anyone I know too well. I found it terrible facing Hayden." She sounded upset. "I would have stayed with him if I didn't have to come and watch your fight, Kaska…"

"It's fine, I can understand as he's your lover." She said plainly.

Carrie and Blaze looked a little surprised, they had not noticed the relationship between the two. Seregei had, he had seen the couple together and had talked to Hayden on previous occasions, and he had also passed on the information about the relationship between the two to Kaska before his match with Carrie.

"He will be ok, won't he?" Carrie asked concerned as the tears started to well up in Eva's eyes.

"Yes, yes, he will be fine, I just can't believe I did that to him, I love him so much. How could I have possibly..." She couldn't finish her words, she just bowed her head looking at the floor.

"I'm sure he understands, you did what you had to do, I mean it is a tournament after all." Blaze told her positively.

"Thank you." She said smiling.

Just at that moment Mhenlo entered with the scribe. "You did well today all four of you, you should be proud. Basically for tomorrow the tournament will commence at half past ten on the dot, so if you make sure you are here for ten. Same rules as before, so get some well deserved rest and best of luck for tomorrow."

All four of them stood up and bowed as Mhenlo walked off, the scribe in his wake.

"Well, I best head back to my dorm, Good luck for tomorrow. I look forward to it." Eva said confidently.

"As do we." Blaze replied. "See you tomorrow."

Eva headed out of the entrance leaving the three alone once again. Carrie stood up and brushed herself off. "You leaving too?" Kaska asked.

"No." Carrie replied. "I'm going to see Seregei, want to come along?" Her two friends got up and walked with her hoping Seregei had woken up.

-

Seregei woke to find himself in a bed, he looked around. Carrie was sat in a chair leant forwards, her head rested in her folded arms on the bottom of the bed. Blaze was snoozing in a chair to his left. Opposite him was Kaska, her back facing him muttering some spells.

"About time you woke." Kaska said quietly, causing Seregei to smile.

"How long have I been here? Did I miss your fight?" He asked, trying to get up.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you, but to answer your questions, you have been here most of the day and yes you did miss my fight." She turned to face him.

"Are you ok? What was your fight like?" He whispered.

Kaska walked over to him and perched on the bed. "I'm fine, my opponent is a little worse for wear." She explained. Then told him about the fight, she thought it would be best to leave the part out when she sliced Cedric's arm in two.

"I knew he had no chance against you. No one does." Kaska smiled at him, pleased to see he was looking better. "Carrie really surprised me though, she is a lot tougher than she looks, and she stayed calm all the way through our fight."

"She has hardly left your side, wanting to be around when you awoke. She's been worried even though she was told you will make a full recovery. She even managed to sweet talk Alesia into letting us all stay with you." She said softly looking at Carrie, who was sleeping still.

"What time is the fight tomorrow?"

"Half past ten."

"Then I shall come and watch you."

"Seregei, don't be too hasty, a head, chest and a stomach wound takes a little while to heal, only go if sister Alesia says so." Seregei looked crestfallen. "Promise…?" Kaska asked, a demanding look in her eye.

"Alright I promise." He said.

Kaska heard a murmur from behind her, Carrie had started stirring from her sleep, her head perked up, blinking a few times to get used to the light, she looked over at Seregei and smiled.

"Hi." She yawned. "Thought I could hear voices." She said stretching up towards the ceiling and leaning back in her chair.

Seregei chuckled. "Hello." He smiled broadly at Carrie.

"How's the patient?" She replied. "Your head feeling better?"

"Still a little bit sore, but it's on the mend." He said rubbing his head slightly.

Carrie looked down at her knees, shyly.

"Carrie, I'm not mad at you if that's what you're afraid..." Seregei began.

Carrie's head Jerked up. "No, I know, its not that, just must be painful having shards of ice stab you in three different places… it was unintentional. But all the same I'm sorry." She told him rapidly. She didn't realise she had said the last sentence quite so loud.

"Will you please keep it down!" A woman came over to them, she was wearing brown Monk garments, the same as Sister Alesia, only she had light brown hair perched on top of her head in a bun with a right side fringe. She was obviously doing the evening shift.

"I'm really sorry." Carrie said blushing slightly.

"Anymore noise and you will have to leave, is that understood Miss Senyah?" The monk said sternly.

"Uhuh." Carrie nodded, as the monk turned and walked away. Carrie then muttered "Stupid Woman!"

"Well.." Came a voice from Sergei's left. "I agree with her, there are others trying to sleep, I doubt they will be happy if they are woken up." Blaze grumbled, having been rudely woken up.

"Sorry Blaze." Carrie apologised. Again looking sheepish.

"How are you doing?" Blaze turned to face Seregei.

"Getting there, and to all of you good luck for tomorrow, I'll see if I can persuade sister Alesia to let me out of here so I can watch you all." He replied cheerfully .

"Thanks." All three of them replied.

"It looks late you know, you should probably go and get well rested." He told them softly.

"We will soon, we will stay a little longer just to be sure you're ok." Blaze said.

"Tell you what." Kaska retorted. "You two get off to your rooms, I'll stay behind for a while. Don't worry. I promise I won't head home too late."

Blaze and Carrie knew better than to argue, she was probably right anyway as Elementalists use far more energy than Necromancers. They would need sleep if their energy was to be up to scratch by the morning.

They both got up off their seats, Carrie lent over to give Seregei a peck on the cheek. Blaze shook his friends hand before they parted company.

* * *

Author's Notes: Hope you are all getting into this cause there is plenty more to come yet xD (this is estimated to be over 200,000 words...lol). As usual, even though it hardly needs to be said, please leave a review to let us know what you thought, ways which you feel we could improve our writing...and noooooooooo flames! P. Next chapter on the 13th everyone, until next time!

R&A&M


	3. Storm by Fire

**Anon. Review Replies**

**Drawde- **Well you need not wait anymore. Kaska is the fave character to write at the moment methinks...hehehe. Enjoy the chapter!

**Hawker- **That could well be a winning formular...hmmm... glad you are enjoying the story so far, and thanks for the review!

**John- **Plenty of fights to come my friend...evil eyes so yeah...hopefully that will make it even more awesome! Thankies for reviewing!

* * *

**Chapter 3- Storm by Fire**

Ten o clock the next day seemed to come in no time at all. It was semi finals day, and all of the participants were feeling particularly nervous. For one thing, it was certain that two of the friends were going to be put against each other, and for another it was going to be very likely that one of them was going to win. This second statement did not seem particularly bothersome at first, yet some people, Carrie in particular, thought that this might cause some controversy amongst them, something which they had all agreed this tournament would not cause, no matter what.

Mhenlo was standing in front of the four of them. This feeling was now so familiar none of them seemed to be bothered by it. "So as to keep this fresh you will not be seeing who you are facing until the match begins, this will let us see who reacts fastest and adapts quickest to the situation that they are given. So, if you will all follow me, and I will take you to four separate waiting area's."

This was something that none of them seemed to be expecting whatsoever. However they all obliged to his request and followed him. The first person to be left in an area was Carrie, then Eva, followed by Blaze, and then finally Kaska. None of them were really sure how they were going to be called forward into the fight, but were sure that the solution to this conundrum would present itself any moment now.

Blaze actually thought that this was a mind game more than anything, something to test and see if they can bare the pressure of the waiting that they now had to go through before reaching the unexpected. Suddenly, without warning, the door in front of Blaze opened very quickly, revealing an alternative entrance to the arena which he had never seen before.

He walked briskly out into the dome, and was surprised to see that he was the only one standing there. This must have meant that his opponent was going to be released in mere seconds from any direction. Blaze braced himself…

Suddenly, a door on the far right of the arena opened, and out of it walked none other than Kaska. This had to be a worst case scenario for him, he knew that she would show him no mercy at all. He looked into those pale blue eyes as she stepped out, and watched the unnerving transaction from blue to pure white. She was going to end this quickly it would see.

What happened next, surprised all of them. Nothing could have braced them for the deafening explosion, which was closely followed by a whirl of colour. A sharp, huge object had embedded itself right in the middle of the dome. Blaze looked over at Kaska, whose reflection was now seen ten times in the crystal, he could not understand how this was helping her in the fight however. Looking over at her, he saw that she looked just as confused as he did, as if wondering what kind of trickery he was trying to fool her with.

Mhenlo was overlooking the scene from the balcony which the winners would normally stand on. He had a look of utter terror on his face, then looked up at the sky. "Kaska, Blaze you have to move!"

Blaze did not waste any time in running back into the entrance that he had used not long ago. He headed straight for the balcony an alternate route to usual. Kaska, it would seem, was still out in the dome.

"But…" She started, looking politely puzzled.

"I said…" Mhenlo began. Then Kaska felt the odd sensation of something like a massive hand pulling her backwards. A second later, another large crystal like object fell where she had been standing not a few seconds before, "…move!"

Kaska ran as fast as she could to join Blaze and Mhenlo up on the balcony. There was panic from the crowd, all of them were now getting to there feet and fleeing. Many of them were trying to cast barriers of earth to save themselves from the crystal storm. A few seconds later Kaska was there, and the three of them stood there, looking at the huge crystal, which they now saw was deadening the earth which it had fallen on.

The earth however, seemed to look very strange, not the normal pattern a disease of any kind would take. However it soon became very clear to them all, that the earth was dying in a way which spelt out words. It took about another twenty seconds before it had finished, during which Carrie and Eva had joined them, looking horror struck.

At last the message was finished, and it read 'Flee meat, unless you want to serve your purpose as our dinner!'.

Kaska looked like she was ready to breath a swarm big enough to consume the earth. "Oh I don't think so…" She ran off, leaving the four of them standing there, still staring at the message.

Carrie ran quickly after her to try and stop her from doing something stupid. She was closely followed by Blaze, leaving the monk and the ranger standing there, transfixed by what was going on.

They were running down one of the halls of the academy. Kaska headed one way towards the entrance, where surely most of the fighting would be going on, but then Carrie paused. Blaze knew why she was doing so.

"Go to him." He said, simply, looking at Kaska run off out of sight. "I'll help her, just go!" He ran off after Kaska, leaving Carrie to go and get Seregei.

He ran and he ran, not wanting to see what was becoming of his home, not sure what he would see. He turned the corner towards the entrance, and saw Kaska standing in between the two huge front doors of Nolani Academy, looking down at a scene which was like no other they had ever seen in their lives.

The green land that they had grown used to was now turning into barren waste before their eyes. The crystals seemed to be spreading some kind of disease into the earth, making it wither and die.

A man was running as fast as he could in the direction of the two of them, he was almost there, but then he stopped. Kaska looked at him, and saw an arrow pointing straight out of his back. They ran over to him, keeping a close eye out for any more arrows that might be heading in their direction.

"Invasion…" He said, he was still miraculously on his feet, but both of them could see the pain it was causing him, he was not going to last much longer. "Thousands of them…Charr…send word…get help…prepare for war… so says king Adelbu…" He then fell forwards, clearly dead.

"Bring him back!" Kaska screamed at Blaze, "You are a monk as well as an elementalist, bring him back!"

Blaze looked down at the floor, he had not been trained to bring people back yet, and the signet was only strong enough for one use until it needed hours on end to recharge. Kaska seemed to be able to tell exactly what he was thinking without him saying any of it. She too had used her signet not long ago, on one of the crowd members who had died before she had hurried to the battle.

Kaska looked up at the sky. What she saw was enough to make her heart stop. "Take cover!" She screamed. Blaze did not waste any time, so ran to the nearest place of cover, which was behind a piece of debris which had fallen off of the academy during the assault.

No less than one thousand arrows came raining down upon them both. They were pinned down there for the time being, neither of them knowing what to do or who to turn to. Then, the arrows ceased to fire. Kaska cautiously looked up out of the hiding place. There was nothing there except for the burning horizon which had previously been their home.

"We need help…" Blaze said, also getting up slowly, "…we need the others…Kaska!"

Kaska's eyes were now glowing the brightest shade of white Blaze had ever seen, making her look dead. Blaze ran over to her and gave her a hard SMACK round the face. "There is nothing you can do just run!" Her eyes returned to normal.

"Get the others…" She said.

"As if! Stop acting the hero!" He dragged her with him, and they both entered the academy, which was starting to crumble within from the damage that it was taking from the crystal fire.

They were not long into the academy before they ran into Carrie, who was helping along a struggling Seregei.

"What the hell is going on!?" Seregei almost shouted, with surprising force given his current medical status.

Neither of them answered. They knew very well the reason why all of them were being trained at the academy had just turned up on their doorstep, but it wasn't something that any of them really expected to happen this soon. It was true perhaps, that the Charr invasion was somewhat inevitable, they had been attacking Ascalon for decades on end trying to rid it of humans, however all attempts up until now had been somewhat feeble, nothing to fear.

It seemed that now however, the Charr had amassed an army of what could have been thousands, and their new found crystal like weapon was so devastating that it left all of them in utter shock.

"Listen…" Began Blaze, who was now holding onto Kaska's arm so tightly that he was sure it must have been cutting of the circulation to it, "…we cannot stay in here, if we do we will be done for, the academy will soon be a pile of rubble. We need to get everybody out…but fighting will be futile…"

At that moment, Mhenlo appeared from round a corner. He was looking particularly harassed, but also determined. "Message from the prince, everyone is to regroup north of the Acadamy, just south of the path that leads into the foothills."

None of them were hesitant. They all ran as fast as they could, which was not too fast as Carrie was half supporting Seregei, towards the exit to the academy which was 'Charr-free'. Neither of them really knew if it would be that way once they had gotten there however.

When they had finally got to a door which seemed to be miles away, they opened it. Looking out they saw the same crystal riddled lands, only without Charr, it appeared that they had only sent a barrage of crystals down on this area. All of them had a silent agreement to get a move on however, they did not know how long it was going to be until they did turn up, and one thing was for sure, they did not want to be there, four against thousands, when they did.

It was painfully slow work due to Seregei. Eventually Kaska just got annoyed with their progress, seized Seregei, and with a strength that no-one knew she possessed, she hauled him onto her back, as though giving him a piggy back. This sped things up considerably. They walked and walked and walked, for what seemed to be hours rather than minutes. Blaze had set up a sort of revolving ring of earth around them all, so as to be prepared for any unsuspected attacks that might come their way. Carrie was causing a small whirlwind around them to deflect minor projectiles that could be shot at them, and Kaska was animating every corpse in sight, even though it made her sick to do so, as many were people she had known during her training.

"It is too late for them though, you know that…" Carrie said, mournfully. They all would have known if they could have been revived, it was the first thing that they were taught.

Whenever someone died, their soul does not immediately leave their body. As long as the soul is there, it means that they can be brought back, provided whatever killed them is not every lasting. Decapitation for instance, would be an ever lasting death. All of them were given a ring upon being taught this, though it was not any normal ring. This ring was embedded with a signet, a signet which they were told would bring back the recent dead within a certain range. Whenever someone like this was within their range, it would emit a heat which they would feel on their finger. This was a somewhat unreliable thing to do without seeing the dead target however, as it was possible to resurrect anything, which included beasts and monsters. This was not the only problem with the 'Resurrection' process, as after ten minutes precisely, the soul would leave the body forever, and it would become but an empty shell. Of course for necromancers this was a dream come true, as there was no need to feel any remorse as they knew nothing else could be done after this time.

As if expecting it, Carrie then felt a sudden warmth on her ring finger. She looked round quickly, to see where the body was. The only thing in sight, and it sickened her to look at it, was a six foot tall Charr. It was laying spread eagled with a sword in its gut.

"At least somebody took it with them…" Kaska said, a nervous smirk creeping onto her face.

"But what if there are more nearby?" Blaze asked, looking all around, and the ring he was controlling fell slightly so that he had to act quickly to keep it up.

"Well…" Mhenlo began, walking over to the creature, "…let's bring it back and find out, he may have some information for us."

Kneeling down next to it, he lightly touched the beasts face, muttering something that the rest of them could not hear. Very slowly, the creature opened it's eyes, yet it did not attack. None of them were sure if this was due to the sword sticking out of it, or if Mhenlo had only brought it back very weakly, and temporarily.

"I would like to know…" He began, speaking calmly, as if to a child who had just stolen something, "…where your group has gone." Charr never hunted alone.

The beast roared, but very quietly compared to what it must have meant to have sounded like. Nothing else would have heard it. "Death with honour meat…"

"I would like to know…" He continued, "…how you accomplished this feat?"

Again the beast laughed.

"This is ridiculous…" Kaska began. She dropped Seregei, walked over to the beast, grabbed the hilt of the sword and twisted. The Charr howled feebly in pain, "…answer the question now and I will ease your passing into the everlasting mists."

"Your city's will burn, your fields will die, and your people will be but slaves to our cause…" She twisted the blade further, Mhenlo continued to keep it from dying however, so it could experience the pain.

"Answer the question!" Her voice shook with a fury that none of them had ever heard before.

The beast remained silent. It was clear he was not going to answer. Mhenlo let it go, and Kaska removed the blade and severed its head.

They heard a loud crash from the direction of the Academy. From what they could see it had now been completely destroyed. This meant that they had to move more quickly, it would not be long before the Charr found them, and they needed to make it to the prince with all haste.

"How did you manage to get a message from him when he was so far away?" Carrie asked Mhenlo.

"We have our methods, but now is not the time…" All of them continued to walk, Kaska with Seregei on her back once more. The sword she had taken from the beast was now being held by Blaze, as she wanted to keep it.

Not a moment later they had reached an area which was like a cave which was in the shadow of the Shiverpeak mountains, which were much further away than they looked from their current position.

They entered the cave nervously, Mhenlo in the lead. The inside of it was massive, it must have easily been as big as the dome at the Academy. It was very crowded, obviously more people than expected had managed to flee from the invading Charr.

"Close the door please Blaze…" Mhenlo asked him, and he looked a bit taken aback, as there was no door, "…use your head, I am sure you will work it out…"

"Oh!" Blaze said, a look of understanding dawning on his face. He then turned round, concentrated with what appeared to be a lot of force, and the stone entrance to the cave slowly sealed, not as perfectly as he would have hoped, but no-one would ever know it was an entrance from the outside now.

It was lucky that the walls were lined with torches. The four friends wondered why none of them had been told about this place, a kind of bunker for any war that might come their way which they could retreat into.

They walked further into the cave, trying to get to the front of the crowd, which they would see were looking up at none other, then Prince Rurik, who was standing on a rock so that he could be seen over everyone. Mhenlo had approached him, said something in his ear, and he nodded, then quite clearly said 'thank you'.

"All right!" He shouted over the chatter which had broken out amongst everyone present. "The Charr have invaded, but we are doing everything in our power to drive them away! The main body of our army has amassed at the wall as we speak to keep the Charr away from the capital. Now we have the advantage that they do not know we are here. In an hour we will strike, get them out of our city's…" He paused, looking down, "…I am not going to lie to you, none of us could have been prepared for this. Expect a long, and difficult fight ahead of us… we will see justice done though, we will cast these beasts from our land! There body's will burn as a beacon, warning anyone who dares to invade Ascalon to stay away!"

There was a loud cheer from the crowd. Seregei looked over at Mhenlo, who did not appear to be joining in, and looked very grave. "For Ascalon!"

"For Ascalon!" Everyone echoed.

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Author's Notes: There be chapter three for you people :P. Hope ya liked it xD. Next chapter up on the 20th. As usual R&R. Until next time...

R&A&M


	4. The Heart of the Storm

**Anon Review Replies**

kalius the ranger- O how rude to advertise minipets! lol. well hope ya like the story P

The Last of Two- Thankies, was a fun chappie to write D. Soz bout the delay for this chapter tho...lol

Ok a huge appology for the delay in the chapter guys, it wouldnt let me upload it yesterday...think my pc is havig its period...anyways, enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 4- The Heart of the Storm**

The hours seemed to pass in no time at all, and before any of them knew it, they had been split into three separate groups ready to start the counter attack on the charr army. Group number one would be heading north for recon, trying to find out just how many of the charr there were. Rurik had decided that heading towards the homelands would be the best plan for this group, as they would have amassed their base in the north, and would not dare set up a camp in Ascalon yet, they could not be sure of victory just yet.

Group number two would be going with Rurik towards Ascalon city. The last that they had heard from a messenger was that soldiers there were only barely managing to keep the Charr forces at bay, and a surprise attack would be just what they needed to get back on their feet, so to speak.

Group number three were the lucky ones, they would be staying in the cave protecting all of the civilians that had managed to flee this far from the Charr. To many, this seemed like a bit of a pointless job, as it was extremely unlikely that they would find them in their current location. This group was an idea of Mhenlo's who had pointed out that leaving the cave completely unprotected would have been a very unwise move if they were to survive.

Seregei happened to be in group three, the only reason for this being that he was still to badly wounded from the fight that he would be little use elsewhere. His curses and death magic however would suffice as nice support if any Charr invaders were to make their way to the cave. Carrie was the one who volunteered him for this and insisted that he stayed, Seregei was however defiant that he would be more useful out on the battlefield.

Carrie herself was in the recon team going north. This was not a very big team as they did not want to attract too much attention should they find anything unwanted. In fact, the whole group comprised of six people. Mhenlo was leading them all, as he was leaving sister Alesia in charge of the citizens.

This left Blaze and Kaska, who were in the largest of all the groups. Kaska was originally going to be put in the recon team, but refused point blank to go on such a stealth like mission. Blaze was now the only person who was not happy with the group he was in, yet chose not to say anything. After all, all of his training in the academy was leading up to a day like this, and it was now or never to strike back, and he did not want to let fear get in the way of what must be done.

Rurik marched over towards the blank stretch of wall, which had not long ago been sealed by Blaze. They would be leaving first and taking out any Charr that were lurking near their hiding place. The recon team would follow shortly after, seal the door behind them, and then the parting of the ways would begin.

Blaze looked to his right at Kaska. "Ready then?" He asked, being sure not to let the nervousness he was feeling come through in his voice.

"Never been so excited before in my life…" She replied, a horrible grin creeping onto her face which made the hairs on the back of Blaze's neck prickle.

An elementalist who was standing near Rurik approached the wall. He touched his hand to it so that the stone shuddered slowly open, revealing the once concealed door. Rurik then stepped boldly out into the dim sunlight. The rest of the group followed slowly, apprehensively. Blaze and Kaska were the last ones out, and Blaze closed the door back up once he and her had crossed the threshold.

Fortunately however, there seemed to be no enemies outside at all. This was a stoke of luck, as it meant that the recon team could get on with what they had to do faster, saving the precious time which they could afford to waste none of. Rurik looked around once more to check that there were no Charr hiding and waiting to ambush them, then turned and nodded at Blaze, who tapped back on the door which he had only just concealed so that it opened again.

Now it was Mhenlo who stepped out of the cave, looking defiant and ready, which was a stark contrast to how he was looking only hours previous. The rest of his team quickly followed, and the two groups stood there, looking at each other, not daring to say a word.

A blast issued in the distance as another crystal fell far from them. Rurik looked over at them all. "Good luck…" He began, looking sorrowful, yet sounding brave, "…may Dwayna smile upon you all."

He turned and marched off towards the battle. Kaska and Blaze gave one final nod to Carrie before turning and following him towards what would surely be their downfall. Carrie looked after them, then turned to see that Mhenlo had already started to walk towards the north. She did not know how long it was going to be before she saw her best friends again, but she was determined to think that it was only a matter of time, and this was not goodbye.

-

"Think this will work?" Kaska asked Blaze, whom she knew had been doubting the whole plan from the moment it was formed.

"Time will tell…I don't want to make any predictions that you can use against me when we meet again in the underworld." To her great surprise, Blaze actually smiled. She thought that this would be the last thing that he would do given the current circumstances.

Someone walked up beside them. To their surprise it was Eva, who they did not know had joined this group. "I thought you were going with recon to be their scout?" Kaska said to her, a little bit worried.

"Managed to get Quickshot to go instead of me. Thought it would be best considering what you…" She nodded towards Blaze, "…did to him in the tournament. Apparently he is still not feeling one hundred percent."

"Coward…" Blaze said. If anything he knew that all Quickshot was doing was going with that group because he considered it safer than going into the heart of the storm. Eva did not seem to mind however, she seemed to be perfectly content with going straight into battle.

"Where is your pet?" Kaska asked. She had only just noticed the absence of the stalked which followed her everywhere.

"Rurik asked me to send it on ahead so that it could warn us of any danger in advance…" Eva stared in a completely random direction, as if fixed on something which none of the others could see.

"Erm…" Blaze began, trying to think of a way to word his next question without sounding rude nor pessimistic, "…stupid question, but how do you know your pet is not just dead?"

Eva, to their great surprise, actually laughed. "You are not a ranger and therefore would not have a hope in understanding the bond which connects us with our pets…" She closed her eyes, still walking straight forward, "…at the moment he is overlooking a plain which is riddled with dead body's of our countrymen and the Charr. It seems like the battle reached this far when more of us were trying to flee…"

Kaska looked at her in mild amusement. She was now half wishing that she had studied ranging, as this would have been an extremely useful skill to have. She looked to her right at the mountains that were overshadowing them, then looked down at the burning deadened ground. It took her perhaps five seconds before she notice that she was looking at something more than just dead earth.

She drew one of her swords with such speed that Blaze had to duck so that he wasn't decapitated.

"What is it!?" Rurik shouted back, who had amazingly noticed her, "What is it, what do you see!?" He took out his sword which burned brightly, holding it in the direction in which Kaska was looking.

"…Nothing…" She stuttered. This was not a good sign, Kaska was always confident and borderline cocky, she had never stuttered before as far as anyone could remember, "…there was nothing." She sounded more confident now, as though it was but a passing thing that would never happen again, "…just a shadow, caught me off guard, I overreacted."

She gave a sickening laugh, but this did not convince Blaze as much as it did everyone else. He looked at her trying to work out what it was that had caused her to become nervous for that split second.

Rurik kept his weapon out, deciding it would be best to be ready for any attacks that might come their way suddenly. "What was all that about?" Blaze asked, as Kaska put her sword back.

"Nothing, I told you I was just caught by surprise." She looked a little bit more convincing this time, yet Blaze was sure that there was still something wrong.

"Stop!" Eva shouted, her eyes closed tight shut. "Enemies up ahead…err…archers! Looks like they have been expecting us."

Rurik took over. "Ok warriors in front keep your shields up…Blaze, can you form some kind of armour from the earth to protect those without shields?" Blaze nodded and began to craft what appeared to be hard stone shields, which hovered in front of those without anything to protect them from a volley of arrows.

"I wont be able to do anything else whilst I keep this up…" He said to Kaska, sounding semi-weak, "...it's not quite draining enough for me to not maintain it, but anything else I do might cause me to pass out."

Kaska nodded at him to show she understood, just as one of the shields he had made came to a hover in front of her. They cautiously moved forwards, now prepared for what they knew was about to come.

"Ok…" Rurik began, "…once they have fired off their first volley hit them with all you have got, every second we take is crucial to Ascalon."

Everyone looked ready, and were all waiting for his signal to go.

"On my mark…3…2…1…"

-

"How much further do you think it will be?" Carrie asked Mhenlo, who was walking forward briskly, not seeming to fear anything. This was probably because Quickshot was up ahead scouting the area, so far they had come across nothing, something which they were all positive was leading to some sort of trap.

"From what I can tell," Mhenlo began, his weapon out and ready for any attack that might occur, "the Charr seem to be being a bit more cautious than we expected. What they have sent into the cities must be mere pawns, back here, where we are heading, is where the flamekeepers will be."

"Flamekeepers?" She asked, looking up at him with confusion.

"I've studied these creatures a lot, from what I can tell this weapon that they have used on us would need a powerful mage behind it in order to wield it, and the only type of Charr trained to do such a thing would be a flamekeeper. Flamekeepers aren't great in close combat, but arm them with a weapon like this…" He broke off, looking over his shoulder at the burnt grounds of the cities, "…well, you can see what I mean."

"So…" Carrie began, "…kill the flamekeepers and the crystals will stop?"

"That's the plan." Mhenlo said, then suddenly looked up.

Quickshot had come running back towards them from over a hill which they were approaching. "Looks like you can end your search…" He said, a slightly sinister tone in his voice, as he clutched at a stitch he had in his chest.

"Where are they?" Mhenlo asked, looking concerned. "They aren't right over that…"

"You think I would have shouted to you from atop it if they were that close?" Quickshot retorted, laughing as though Mhenlo were stupid. It seemed that the war had changed Quickshot's attitude towards his superiors, something which was not going to do him any favours.

While he was laughing, Carrie looked up at the top of the hill. There, silhouetted quite clearly against the dim sun, was a figure, yet she could not make out who it was from this distance. She blinked, and the figure, much to her surprise, had vanished.

"Wait!" She called, and then running with the speed of the wind conveniently on her side, she went to the top of the hill. When she reached it however, there was not a soul in sight.

Mhenlo came running up to her. "What is it?" He asked, looking over the barren wastelands that were on the other side of the hill.

"There was someone here." Carrie said quite plainly, looking around for whoever it was, "…there was someone right…well…I don't know, maybe I imagined it."

The other four people in the group had come running up to them, Quickshot in the lead. "What is she talking about?"

Mhenlo looked like he believed her, it appeared his bitterness towards Quickshot's attitude was getting so great that he did not want to side with him in any way at all. "Set up a perimeter, keep your eyes open for any sign of movement."

Quickshot laughed, stroking the neck of his pet stalker as he looked around with mild amusement in his eyes. "Oh look, I think I saw a leaf…it moved…"

"Shut up." Mhenlo said quite plainly. "If you want to say something useful then tell us where the Charr are."

Quickshot pointed to the north to where a lightning bolt seemed to be repeatedly striking. "There, they draw power from that bolt and concentrate it into crystals from what I saw. It takes a while for one to be constructed though…the flameke…"

"Get down!" Shouted a warrior, who had seized Carrie who was on his right, and dragged her to the floor, Mhenlo wasted no time, and neither did any of the other except…

Quickshot had not been paying attention. An arrow had come flying towards him out of nowhere with the speed of a meteor and pierced his heart. Mhenlo rushed over towards him, and was met with a sight like none other he had ever witnessed.

There was something on the arrow which was beyond poison. Quickshot held up his hand weakly in front of his face, and watched as it appeared to evaporate into thin air, leaving his bones behind. Mhenlo started to chant something which the others could not make out, as it was in a different language. Whatever it was he was doing seemed to have no effect however, the disease, whatever it was, was now spreading up his arm with an accelerated rate.

"This is going to hurt…" Mhenlo said, and then pulled the arrow out as hard as he could, and Quickshot let out a terrible scream. Much to Mhenlo's distress, this did not stop the disease, yet there was nothing spread on the arrow whatsoever, no poison, no nothing.

He tried another healing spell, and another, yet the more he tried to heal it, the faster it seemed to spread. The one thing that made it even worse was that this would be a permanent death, there would be no bringing him back if all that was left was bones.

"Kill me!" He screamed, it was a miracle he was still alive, as though he would only die when it was only bones left.

Mhenlo beckoned the warrior over, there was nothing they could do except end his suffering. The disease appeared to be eating away at his face slowly now…as though it was going to keep him alive to put him through every bit of agonising torture which it was providing him.

The warrior took out his axe, aimed, and then without looking, swung down with a sickening thud on flesh. Mhenlo looked as though he was ready to kill. This was the first time that someone under his care had died, and he had all the time in the world to try and work out some way of stopping whatever it was.

"We head back now…" His words however were silenced by another terrible scream. Looking round, they saw the stalker that had belonged to Quickshot mauling a Mesmer…

Carrie acted instinctively. Using the flask which was attached to her belt she conjured up a spear made of ice, and sent it flying straight at the creature. The damage had been done however, when the Mesmer got to his feet, his eyes were gone.

He was not screaming, but it was easy to tell that on the inside he was completely shattered. Mhenlo ran over to him, there was no way to cure this permanent blindness. He tore of a piece of cloth from his robes and tied it round his eyes as a temporary bandage.

"Ok…we go now with all haste…" They started to run, the Mesmer holding onto Mhenlo's shoulder for guidance.

Carrie bent down to where the arrow was. She looked at it, then picked it up, deciding it would be a good idea to take this back to the base and try and work out what it was that cause such a terrible death.

-

"Well you are all back to fighting fitness." Alesia declared to Seregei, who was now pacing around the cave. "Now you can get out there once they have returned."

"Yay for me…" Seregei said, looking at the closed door which he would not be able to open without assistance from an elementalist. This assistance however would be something he could not come by, as there was a strict order not to open the door for safety reasons.

He went over to the door and slammed a fist against it in frustration. No-one seemed to notice him, they were to busy talking, worrying about all those who had been sent outside.

"…the lands of Tyria…" Someone whispered to Seregei.

He spun around, but there was nobody there. Everyone in the cave was a good twenty feet away from him, so there was no chance of it being any of them. In the end he decided that it would be best to put this to the back of his mind, deciding that he had imagined it, his imagination was just running wild given the current situation. All they could do now was wait for them to return, and pray that they were all still alive…

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Authors notes: Well you know what im gonna say already lol. Next chapter on sunday guys, so until then, happy gwsing!

R&A&M


	5. Close Encounters

Hey here is Chapter 5 for this week and we are very grateful for the reviews so far so thankyou to those who have left them! Hope you enjoy...

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**Chapter 5 - Close Encounters**

"CHARGE!" Rurik roared. On his command the whole group ran forward, weapons ready to target an opposing archer, arrows suddenly came shooting towards them as well as down from the sky.

"Take cover!" Rurik ordered his team, as Blaze quickly turned the stone shield horizontally and made it hover above the group, the warriors who were at the front raised their shields. The group huddled together, as they heard the sounds of the arrows against metal and the rocks.

A warrior was peering between the shields was waiting to confirm their strike attack when the Charr had used their first round of arrows. After what felt like an eternity, Blaze heard him shout "NOW."

With that he sent half of the stone shield zooming through the air which hit the mass of archers sending them scattering, while they were down the warriors ran at full speed bringing their swords, axes and hammers down on them while the rest attacked from a distant range.

"Incoming!" A voice cried out.

"Oh no!" Rurik gasped. "It's an ambush." Another group of Charr double in size to the archer group was heading straight towards them.

Blaze looked over to see Kaska smiling, from the look on her face, she was excited, even though they were now out numbered. "Lets even up the odds shall we?" She gave another smirk and chuckled silently.

She raised her hands, Blaze looked at there they were pointing, it was toward 3 dead Charr's, twigging what she was doing he headed back into battle, using flame burst he set the nearest group of Charr on fire, then manipulated some near by boulders that hovered over them and buried them.

Kaska's eyes were pure white, she began to mutter some spells. One of the corpse's began to mutate and rise from the ground, then two more rose, they were half flesh half bone with no skin, mutant looking creatures with deep pink exposed muscle and no skin, they lined up facing their master. Kaska meerly smiled and pointed towards the group of Charr who had recently joined the fight.

She turned round to try and find another spawning place to summon more mutants when she felt a sudden sharp piercing sensation the back of her left shoulder, making her wince. "Argh." Looking toward her left shoulder she saw an arrow head sticking out, the wound gushing with blood.

"This is really going to hurt but…" Grabbing the arrow head, she pulled it hard, freeing it from her shoulder. "AHHHHHHHH!" Panting as she dropped it on the floor, Kaska turned round facing the Charr archer, who was preparing to fire some flaming arrows at her.

"Your going to pay for that." She hissed, bringing out one of her swords, she charged straight at her target, swiping one sword at the arrows cutting them in half before plunging the other sword in the beasts belly.

She shoved her sword upwards making the Charr roar in anguish, before twisting it and pushing it even further into her opponent, it's blood spilling down the blade and onto her hand. Yanking it hard she pulled it free and the beast fell to the floor dead, a pool of blood seeping around Kaska's feet.

"Oh look what you did, you got my sword bloodstained, they are not easy to keep clean you know." She said sarcastically before kicking the Charr's head making sure it was dead.

"It's a waste of blood, but I will not stoop as low to drink the blood of a Charr." She whispered flicking her hand attempting to get the blood off.

She suddenly gasped and fell to her knee's there was a pain in her body, she began to sweat slightly and found it difficult to breathe as her throat was burning horribly. She could feel herself growing faint, the blood draining from her face, the pain grew stronger causing her eyes to water and blur, she surrendered to the pain and passed out, through the blackness she heard a cry from a voice she recognised to be prince Rurik's.

"Blaze, Kaska is wounded, get help!" He called over to Blaze. "Take her back to Mhenlo, quickly, we will hold off the Charr."

Blaze wasted no time, he ran over to Kaska picking her up in his arms, creating a shield of earth that floated around him while he ran as fast as he could back toward the hideout, hoping Mhenlo and the group would be back when he got there. Kaska turned her head and moaned. "Hang in there Kaska, its going to be alright." He told her, manipulating the wind he caused to blow around his legs and sprinted faster toward the cave.

-

The others arrived back at the cave, "Here, sit and rest." Mhenlo told the Mesmer quietly, helping him sit down and get comfy.

"Thank you, and thank the Elementalist who got that stalker off me will you." He said smiling weakly.

"Of course." Mhenlo replied placing a hand on the Mesmer's shoulder.

Mhenlo wondered around looking for Carrie, he found her sitting with Seregei and wondered over to them, placing himself next to her.

"Zeiros has told me to thank you on his behalf."

Carrie turned to face Mhenlo then she looked at the floor. "I should of noticed sooner, maybe I could of prevented his eyes getting scratched out by that stalker."

"You did all you could, besides you saved his life, he will be fine, he just needs rest." He smiled kindly at Carrie. "You had better rest too, I'm sure Prince Rurik will be back soon."

Carrie showed the Arrow to Mhenlo. "This is what killed Quickshot. I figured it might be of some use in case we encounter this kind of arrow head again."

He took it from her and peered at it closely. "Hmmm, take this to Artemis, she will probably be able to study this and see if she can find an antidote, leave it to her though."

Carrie nodded in understanding taking it back off the Monk. "Wait here Seregei, will be back in a moment." She instructed. Getting up, she headed deeper into the cave amongst the other survivors from the academy, passing the other survivors who were sitting on the hard floor.

Out of the shadow stepped a female ranger a little taller than Carrie, she had long ginger hair that past her shoulders, she wore green and brown clothing which Carrie recognised was made of leather and a common attire for a ranger.

"What can I help you with?" Artemis asked.

"Could you possibly take a look at this arrow?" She replied holding the object in her hand. "Mhenlo sent me to ask you, as it's a ranger weapon you would have more knowledge of it than he does." She then went on to explain about Quickshot and the effects he suffered when he was hit with it.

The ranger who was also a trainer at Nolani, took the arrow from Carrie and looked at it squinting. "Curious, are you sure this is the correct one?"

Carrie nodded. "It is, but it looks normal, which is the strange thing. We need to know what they are in case they are used on us again, we wont stand a chance if we don't have anything to stop the effects."

"It is most strange, but I will look into it and see what I can do, it might take a while though, there is no telling but I will let you know as soon as I find anything." Artemis said quietly.

"Thank you." Carrie said bowing her head slightly before returning to Seregei. He looked restless and was pacing up and down looking very tense.

Carrie sat down and sighed deeply, putting her head in her hands. Seregei looked over noticing she was thinking. "What's up?" He asked.

"They should be back by now, I'm worried." She replied

"Then why don't we sneak out and go to find them? I can't stand staying here while our friends are out fighting maybe they are in trouble."

"We can't leave, the others here are depending on us to protect the survivors, we can hardly do that if we are out looking for them."

Seregei made a growling noise, worry mixed with annoyance. "I'm not an invalid anymore Carrie. I need to go out and fight!"

Carrie opened her mouth to reply, but instead her eyes widened in shock. Seregei turned round and saw Blaze at the entrance with a very pale Kaska cradled in his arms.

"Mhenlo, please help her. I think she has been poisoned." He shouted. He looked exhausted, as he had used a lot of energy during the fight and had to use his reserves in order to get Kaska back to safety.

"Bring her over here, please clear the way. Artemis over here please." Mhenlo ordered as Blaze placed Kaska down in front of him.

"Kaska no!" Seregei yelled and ran over to be next to her. Over the commotion Carrie caught sight of Blaze who turned and headed back out the door, Carrie ran after him and the entrance was sealed shut again.

"Blaze, where are you going?" Carrie demanded. "What happened?"

"We were ambushed." Blaze explained. "Kaska was shot by a Charr Archer with a poison arrow. I have to return to the fight, I'm not sure how the group have held up."

"Your in no condition to fight Blaze you are exhausted." Carrie said exasperated.

"This is what we were trained for. It's my duty, I have to go."

"Well I won't let you go alone, I haven't used as much energy as you and I've have had time to recover, so lets go and no arguing about it."

Blaze nodded as Carrie's eyes glowed a tint of yellow. He felt the wind around their feet, and they started sprinting back in the direction of the fight. "Carrie can you speed it up more?" He called over. He then felt the wind blow fast, it was big increase as his feet were almost swept out from underneath him.

It seemed like they were running for a good while as they approached a hill Blaze and Carrie could hear shouts and roars from the battle up ahead. Blaze could see that the group size was at least half the amount of people they had started off with, the monks in this group were lying on the ground dead, the group had been too busy trying to stay alive or simply didn't have the energy to try and resurrect them with their signets.

"How long have they been out?" Carrie asked running over towards one of them.

"I have no idea, you can use your signet cant you and see if we can revive them?" Blaze asked quickly before heading over to another Monk.

"Ok I'll give it a try." Carrie called back. She held the ring on her finger close to the corpse and hoped it would work, they would need a healer to help some of the recently wounded, if this Monk's soul had not departed to the afterlife the ring would emit heat indicating it was using power, this did not happen though.

Carrie looked over at Blaze who had tried the same the other Monk, she shook her head at him sadly, then closed the young healers eyes as a sign of respect. Blaze did the same.

"We have to help the others." Blaze ordered.

"Right." Carrie replied.

Blaze spotted a mass of Charr stood not to far away, they looked like they were healing the fighters. "Over there, take that group down." His eyes then began to glow a shade of red.

Carrie worked out he was planning to use Meteor Shower, this would interrupt their healing, but it would run out after a while, so she had to keep them from getting back up to heal their warriors. Her eyes turned yellow as she manipulated the wind which was blowing around the area of battle and aimed it straight at the group of Charr. The gale struck them with such a force the whole group was knocked over. Before they had time to realise what had happened huge meteors from the sky came crashing down on top of them, burying some of them and crushing the others. Carrie noticed how worn Blaze looked.

"Blaze stay back give yourself time to recover." She told him.

"Not a chance." He replied.

"I'm not carrying you back to the hideout."

"You wont need to." He said smiling even though he was completely out of breath. "I'm tougher than that."

"Don't say I didn't warn you then." Carrie ran past Blaze further into the battle. Blaze ran after her towards another group of Charr who were advancing on a group of remaining soldiers and Prince Rurik.

-

"Mhenlo, is Kaska going to be alright?" Seregei asked his voice laced with concern.

"Artemis has given her an antidote and I have healed her wounds, she should be alright, she will need plenty of rest though, but she is safe and in the good hands of sister Alesia, all we can do is wait." He replied in his wise sounding voice, it was comforting to Seregei as he knew Mhenlo was a very experienced Monk.

"May I see her?"

"I'm afraid that is up to Sister Alesia as Kaska is under her care." He told Seregei quietly.

Seregei nodded and got up, he wandered for a little while until he found Alesia who had taken care of him in the tournament.

"Sister, may I sit with Kaska?" He asked.

Alesia sighed. "Tables have turned, only this time it's a graver situation." She seemed to be deciding whether she should let the young male Necromancer sit with his friend. "No others to see her?" She asked.

"No, I don't know where they disappeared off to actually they were here when she was brought in… but I haven't seen them since." He replied.

"I will let you sit with her, but under no circumstance are you to make any noise, her condition is stable, and I would like it to stay that way." She said sternly. "I will check on her regularly, but if you notice a change in condition, let me know at once, and no one else is to join you."

"Yes of course, thank you sister." Seregei bowed in thanks and went to sit by Kaska who was sleeping silently.

He sat by her and watched her, there was a light blue aura outlining her figure which meant a healing spell had been cast on the patient. Seregei smiled and thought about her being there for him when he was out cold from his match with Carrie, he was again surprised that sister Alesia had been so lenient as she was usually strict about visitors. All that mattered to him now was staying with his friend and being there for her when she woke up.

Kaska turned and mumbled something quietly, Seregei leaned in closer and listened but all he could work out was "… get you… beasts." The rest was incomprehensible.

He chuckled silently placing a hand on her forehead and running it through her crimson hair tenderly. "It's ok I'm here." He whispered to her. She made a moaning noise and turned her head to face him. He gasped, thinking she was going to wake up, but her eyes remained closed. He leant back and sighed deeply, still watching over Kaska's sleeping form.

-

A Charr roared in pain and fell to the floor, is it was hit directly in the heart from Carrie's Ice Spear. There were still more Charr they didn't seem to decrease in number, no matter how many were taken out.

"This is hopeless to continue fighting in this worn out state. I don't see any other choice but to retreat back to the base." Rurik explained. Upper cutting a nearby Charr its fur began to smoke from the burning blade of Rurik's Fiery Dragon Sword. "There are just too many of them."

"I agree." Blaze said.

"ARRRRGH!" Came a cry of pain from one of the soldiers as a Charr near enough sliced him in half sending him crashing to the ground.

Rurik sighed deeply looking defeated. "RETREAT! THAT'S AN ORDER! RETREAT!" He cried loudly running back in the direction of the cave. The rest followed on the little remaining energy they had left.

After running for a while Carrie looked behind her realising the Charr were following and that if they continued they would lead the Charr back to the base. This was what they wanted, they had obviously planned this in advanced. Not wanting to see anymore blood shed she skidded to a halt and turned to face the oncoming Charr.

Blaze noticed and stopped. "Carrie, what are you doing come on?"

Without facing him Carrie replied. "If we keep going we will lead them back to base, now I'm asking you to do this for me, use Windborne speed and get the others back to safety, I will hold them off."

"No, you cant do it alone." Blaze cried exasperated at what is friend was prepared to do.

"You are completely exhausted, I have more than enough energy to hold them back, you know full well you don't. Trust me." She answered.

Blaze was in complete turmoil, he could hear the Charr getting closer.

"Don't worry about me, you have a duty to protect the prince." Carrie told him.

"But Carrie…" He started.

"GO!" She yelled. Standing firm, ready to attack.

Blaze turned and ran using the wind to speed him up, he felt tears form in his eyes. Catching the rest of the group he summoned up the rest of his strength controlling the wind to help the others run faster alongside him as well.

Carrie faced the approaching Charr, luckily they had not seen the direction the others has run off in, she was planning on leading them in another direction to put as much distance between the Charr and the base as she could. Her eyes glowed yellow as she conjured a Gale, putting as much force behind it as possible without wearing herself out.

With the Charr now on the floor she took the flask off her belt her eyes now glinted a tint of blue as the water came out of the flask and formed itself into a ball poised just in front of her. Her hand shot outwards sending the water forward straight at the Charr, they held their weapons up in defence but all they felt was cold water splash around their legs.

They looked up and one of them growled at Carrie. "What was that meant to be? You call that an attack?" Several more Charr growled standing back up.

Carrie smiled slyly back. "No, I call it Deep Freeze." She answered, her eyes turned blue once again and the water on the Charr's fur turned to solid ice causing a few to lose balance and fall over. The ones still stood tried to run at Carrie, but found they could barely move.

"You'll pay for that meat!" The same Charr roared at her.

"You'll have to catch me first." Carrie taunted. Turning and running away from the Charr in a different direction from the cave.

Checking she had lost them after a fair distance of running a panting Carrie took refuge near a rock slumping against it to catch her breath back. The Charr had not managed to follow her, but she was certain they wouldn't find the cave now and had probably gone back to report to the one in charge. She gasped as she heard a faint voice in the mists.

"Help me!"

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A/N: Nice cliffy for you... now you have to wait a week to find out what happens! As always we ask that if you leave us a review please NO FLAMES! Just some concrit will do nicely. Well until next week then guys.

R,A&M


	6. Search for Survivors

Chapter 6 - Search for Survivors

Carrie sat bolt upright her ears straining for the direction the cry came from.

"Help me!" The voice screamed. Carrie jumped up, she was so alarmed to realise the voice belonged to a child. But the next voice she heard made her blood run cold.

"Hey look, a fresh piece of meat!" Said a gruff voice.

"Don't eat me, please!" The young voice cried.

Carrie sprinted in the direction of the voices, there was no way she would let these Charr get to the child. She found herself grinding to a halt as she was on the edge of a small gorge where there had once been a full flowing river. There was only a small amount that flowed now that went up to the ankles.

She looked down to see a small boy backing away from two Charr, the bigger one she recognised to be the Charr Captain, he was wielding a axe and shield which were warrior weapons.

Carrie jumped down, making her presence known with a splash landing in the water behind the two Charr who spun round.

"More meat, we will have quite a feast tonight then!" The smaller one said.

They rounded on Carrie preparing to fight her, two against one.

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The Boulder moved to one side as Prince Rurik, Blaze and the others walked in, there was a loud cry from everyone in the cave. "Hail prince Rurik!"

Seregei perked up, looking over he saw Blaze being lead off by a healer, Seregei got up and headed over to them. "Thank god your ok, I was worried when I couldn't find you or Carrie."

Blaze's face crumpled. "Carrie stayed behind." He was trying so hard not to let the anger emerge.

Seregei looked puzzled. "What do you mean she stayed behind?" He asked.

"She came with me back to where the group had encountered the Charr. Prince Rurik ordered a retreat, the Charr were following us, so in order to stop them from following us back here, Carrie held them off." He explained a hard lump in his throat.

Seregei's eyes widened. "She held them off on her own?"

Blaze said nothing, just a simple nod was all that he could do to reply.

Seregei didn't know what to say, he was so shocked, in one day he nearly lost his friends while he was just sat in this cave lounging around. He clenched his fist tightly, blaming himself, he should have been there helping them, maybe it would have made a difference.

"How is Kaska doing?" Blaze asked trying to take his mind off of Carrie.

Seregei's heart sank, how was he meant to tell her about Carrie. "She will be ok." He shook his head in disbelief. "But I wont believe that Carrie is dead, she just can't be."

"If she isn't dead she would be a prisoner of the Charr by now." Blaze said mournfully. "There is no way she could of help up against that many Charr."

The healer who was tending to him had fixed him up with bandages had used Healing Breeze on him, he felt better, but was still inwardly grieving for Carrie. Seregei looked upset but inside he was full of anger.

At that moment Prince Rurik strode over to where the two were sat, both got up and greeted him with a salute.

"At ease my friend's." He said softly. "I offer my condolences to the both of you." Miss Senyah's sacrifice will not be in vain, as a mark of respect I have sent troops out to recover the body if there is one to be found."

"Thank you my prince." Blaze said gratefully.

"No, thank you. For showing true courage out in the battle. You are a true hero." Rurik told him proudly. "I am forever in your debt."

Rurik, Blaze and Seregei all bowed with respect before Rurik walked away leaving the two friends on their own again.

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The axe swiped through the air catching Carrie on her left upper arm making a clean, fresh cut., but she didn't make much of a sound, just a sharp inhale. She had managed to take out the other Charr, but the Captain was proving to be slightly more resilient.

"No stop it!" A voice came from behind the Captain, who spun round to look at the child.

Carrie knew it was probably the only chance she had in getting the boy away from the clutches of the beast. Using the water around her, she used the same move she used on the last group of Charr she had run from. Freezing the Captains feet she sprinted past trying to avoid the Axe he was swinging violently attempting to hack away the ice.

She picked the child up in her arms and ran out of the gorge. The Charr Captain didn't bother to follow, and headed in the opposite direction, Carrie guessed it was heading back to the Charr Army base. She thought for a split second about following the beast, but decided that getting the child to safety was most important.

She put the boy down and kneeled beside him. He had short blonde hair with blue eyes of similar shade to her own. He looked at her timidly.

"Thank you." He whispered.

Carrie smiled back at him. "Are you hurt anywhere?" She asked.

"No."

She felt relieved. "My name is Carrie, what's yours?"

"Fredrick Kingsley, but most people call me Freddie. It's nice to meet you Carrie, and thank you again for saving me from those Charr." He replied sounding more cheerful.

"Your welcome, I'll get you to a safe place far from the Charr, don't worry, but how did you get out here?" Carrie asked curiously.

"My parents went out to fight, the Charr had invaded our village, father told me to go and hide, when I came out from hiding everyone had gone. So I wondered around trying to find them, and was chased by those two." He explained.

"How old are you Freddie?"

"10 but I'm 11 soon."

As the boy was only 10, which meant he would of had no way of defending himself as he hadn't attended the academy and been trained in a profession yet. The academy was for those between the ages of 11 - 16. Carrie was 16 and in her last year along with Blaze, Kaska and Seregei.

"So Freddie are you hungry?" Carrie only asked as she felt her stomach rumble slightly. She hadn't eaten for a while, she still had some water in her flask, she could spare a little if Freddie was thirsty.

"Yeah, and thirsty too." He replied.

Carrie took the flask off her hip. "I don't have any food on me right now but I have some water, drink some."

Freddie took the flask and drained all of the liquid. Carrie sighed, she would need water in case she ran into any Charr again. She thought about the gorge where her and Freddie just were, there was still a small amount of water left at the bottom she could probably fill her flask with some from there.

"Ok Freddie, I need you to wait here, I'm going to fill this up with water from the river. You have to be very quiet." She instructed.

He shook his head and threw his arms around the young Elementalists neck. "No Carrie please don't leave me." He sobbed. "I'm scared."

Carrie wasn't surprised as he had been chased by two Charr, she smiled kindly at the boy, hugging him reassuringly. "Ok Freddie, but stay close to me ok." She told him, standing up.

They headed back towards the gorge which wasn't all that far away. Reaching the edge Carrie hopped down removing the flask once again, unscrewing the cap before submerging the container into the remains of the water.

Freddie made a gasping sound behind. "Did you hear that?"

Carrie listened, but heard nothing apart from the wind. "What?" She asked straining her ears to pick up other sounds. Then she heard it, a faint roar.

"That!" Freddie exclaimed.

"Yes, I hear it." Carrie said pulling the flask out of the water and put the cap back on, reattaching it to her waist.

"What is it? The boy asked.

"I'm not sure." There was another roaring sound, only this time it sounded louder, Freddie gasped once again.

Carrie turned round holding her arms up towards Freddie, who leant over taking hold of her shoulders as she lifted him down beside her, looking around she noticed a rock big enough for them to crouch behind. "This way, quick." She ordered, taking the child by the hand and over to the rock, where they hid out of view.

She peered over to the opposite side of the gorge where out of the shade stepped the Charr Captain, watching closely as it headed over to the lifeless body of the other beast she had taken out earlier. The Captain stopped in front of the body and let out an almighty roar making Carrie jump, she half expected Freddie to scream.

Two other Charr emerged into view one stood either side of the Captain. "Take his body back to base." He ordered. The other two picked up the body and carried it off along the river bed heading away from Carrie and Freddie.

Carrie again considered following them. Her father Isaac had always told her to trust her instincts with some situations, and this was one of them.

She would have to keep up in order to follow them and didn't want Freddie to fall behind as he looked exhausted, even though this was risky it would be worth attempting to find out information from the Charr.

"Here climb on my back and hold on." She told him.

"We are not following them are we Carrie?" He asked climbing on.

"I'm afraid so Freddie, but I need you to be brave ok, I promise I wont let anything bad happen to you."

"I know you won't" He replied, as they began to follow.

-

"How long ago were the soldiers sent out?" Seregei asked.

Blaze shrugged. "Half an hour ago possibly." With everything that had happened Blaze has no real sense of time. Minutes seemed like hours and hours seemed like days.

"Are they looking for others besides Carrie?" Seregei was completely wound up.

"I'd expect so, Captain Calhaan has ordered teams to go to check for survivors in different villages, as far as I know he is leading the team searching for Carrie, under Prince Rurik's orders." He explained.

"Blaze I can't stand waiting around not knowing if she's dead or even worse." The Necromancer paced back and fourth in front of his friend.

Blaze said nothing, just stared blankly at the floor, trying to ignore Seregei, fearing he would set him on fire from the mounting tension and anger. Seregei continued to pace, breathing heavily it was now beginning to test the Elementalists nerves.

"Why don't you go and check on Kaska?" Blaze asked.

"I checked on her five minutes ago." Seregei snapped.

Blaze looked up at him, the Necromancer noticed the burning look in his eye, and he sighed deeply. "Sorry Blaze." He apologised sitting down opposite him.

Blaze put his head in his hand, his memories of Carrie resurfacing, when they first met five years ago when they started at Nolani, some of the lessons they had together and the first time they duelled. She didn't deserve to lose her life at the tender age of 16. He shook his head; he wouldn't allow himself to think so negatively, even though the situation looked bleak.

-

"Sir over here!" A voice called from nearby.

Captain Calhaan, followed the voice, as he did he was looking around him, surveying the lands that had once been full of life, lush green grass and fully blossomed tree's. It was all now a burnt wasteland, he no longer recognised the place he used to call 'home.'

"What have you found?" He asked one of his soldiers.

"Two sets of tracks sir, one are footprints of the Charr, one looks like a survivor. We can't be sure though." He reported.

"Ok, I want you three to follow the tracks of the Charr." He indicated to three men. "See where they lead too, you other two are with me to see where this trail leads. Hopefully these belong to Miss Senyah, if she is alive it is of the utmost importance she is found by order of the Prince."

The three followed the Charr tracks, heading off in the same direction. Calhaan knelt down and inspected the other tracks, he was pretty certain they belonged to a female, the print was narrow and had a slight heel to it where the sole of the shoe was. He knew very well of Carrie Senyah, when he studied at the academy, his best friend was none other than her father Isaac Senyah, they had both studied to be warriors under Van. Even though he had not seen Isaac for a very long time, he would do everything he could to make sure his daughter was alive.

Shortly they approached the remains of a river. "Spread out and see if there are any other tracks." Calhaan instructed, the others spread out leaving Calhaan to his thoughts.

It wasn't long before the other three who were scouting out the Charr prints had returned. "What have you to report?" The Captain asked.

"The tracks only lead us west for about 5 minutes. No indication of Charr presence nearby." One explained.

"What about other survivors in the villages?"

"Reports from all teams there are no others, only dead bodies and signs that the Beasts have taken prisoners."

"Damn!" Calhaan exclaimed, sighing deeply. "We have to call it a day, we have been out here for hours. Rally the other troops and return to base, lets move out!"

The others started walking off, quietly muttering among themselves. Calhaan stared at the water. "I hope to god your safe Carrie." He said to himself before heading back himself, completely unaware of the two black eyes that had been watching.

-

The stone entrance moved aside as Calhaan and his troops returned. Blaze got up as he spotted him, but the Captain headed off towards where Prince Rurik was stood eagerly awaiting news.

Blaze moved over to them, he was now very worried as Carrie wasn't with them. As he approached, he over heard Calhaan's report that raised his hopes slightly.

"…The tracks lead us to the river, I'm pretty sure they belong to Miss Senyah, but we were unable to follow I'm afraid."

"And what of the Charr tracks?" The Prince enquired.

"Nothing my lord, they didn't lead us very far." Calhaan replied.

Blaze had to know if he heard right. He cleared his throat causing both superiors to face him. "I'm sorry for interrupting my lord, but did you say you found footprints leading to a river?"

"Yes the remains of what was once a river and by the way the prints are spaced out, I'd conclude if it was Miss Senyah, she was running."

Blaze had a swelling feeling in his chest of new hope. "Carrie uses water as her main element, she must have gone to refill her flask. Her shoes have a slight heel too."

"These footprints did." Calhaan confirmed.

"Then she must be still alive!" Relief swept over Blaze like a sudden surge of energy, he was desperate to go and find her.

"We will continue our search tomorrow, you are welcome to join us, I know you are Carrie's friend." The Captain suggested.

"Thank you sir. I would be so grateful." Blaze bowed, then turn to face Rurik. "Thank you my prince."

"If you are to go out tomorrow, you must stay close to Calhaan and it is an imperative you follow his instructions." Rurik ordered.

"Yes of course my lord." Blaze bowed low before returning to Seregei to give him the news, leaving the Prince and Captain to discuss other matters.

-

Carrie had managed to follow the Charr back in a north direction, there were some old ruins of what must have been a rather big house or building. Heading into the four walls trying to keep well out of sight she stopped allowing Freddie to jump off her back and stood behind her. She peered around where the wall had broken, what she saw made her heart pound.

Hundreds of Charr were being fixed up with weapons and armour. The Charr Captain and his two guards had returned with the body Carrie had killed earlier, she could see in the middle of the mass of Charr stood their leader Bonfaaz Burnfur.

Bonfaaz went over to inspect the body. "Who did this!" He demanded.

"An Elementalist child." The Captain of the Charr replied.

Another Charr had come over to where they were standing. "A girl with blue hair?" It asked.

"Yes."

"We encountered her earlier attempting to follow the humans and their leader back to their base, she interfered and we lost them." The Charr Warrior informed them.

Bonfaaz growled and headed over to the body. "We will kill all of them, every man, woman and child, no one will be spared. DEATH TO THE HUMAN SCUM!"

There was roaring from the Charr, some raised their weapons, others cheered in agreement.

A Charr Scout ran up to Bonfaaz. "I've found their hideout Sir I followed their troops, they are hiding in a cave South West of here, they have a huge boulder covering the entrance, no guards." The Scout announced.

"Pitiful humans, a thousand boulders cannot stop us. We are the Charr, a far superior race to them. They have no chance." Bonfaaz stood on a rock, holding up his staff to address his Charr troops. "We have found the base of the human survivors. When night falls, then is the time we will attack. We will kill all of them and take this land in the name of the Gods of Fire!"

The base erupted with roars, Carrie could just make out Bonfaaz saying "Prepare for battle, for tonight we will have victory."

She knew she didn't have much time, looking over to the west she saw the sun glow a bright orange as it slowly descended on the horizon there was only about an hour until nightfall. She had to warn the others and fast, there wouldn't be much time to evacuate everyone. It was a good thing she had trusted her instinct.

"Freddie, jump on my back, keep your eyes closed and hold on very tight." She instructed.

The boy did as he was told, Carrie paused a moment, focusing all of her energy into manipulating the winds, her eyes glowed a slight yellow, making the air wind round her legs, and she ran, faster than she had ever had to in her life, every second counted, and all the remaining civilians lives now depended on her.

-

Blaze and Seregei were watching over Kaska, when they heard the boulder move, they looked over to see a girl on her knees panting madly hardly being able to breathe with a small boy he didn't recognise standing by her. Blaze recognised Carrie at once and ran over to her helping her up.

"Oh my god, Carrie are you alright? What's wrong?" He asked.

"The Charr…" She managed to say still coughing violently. "…they've found us."


	7. Emergency Evacuation

A/N: Hey guys, so so so soooo sorry about the very late uploading of this chapter, been enjoying the summer too much anyway we will keep uploading them from now on hope it's been worth the wait.

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Emergency Evacuation**

"What?" Blaze gasped blinking again at Carrie thinking he had not heard right. "Carrie what do you mean they've found us?"

Blaze took her by the arms and steadied her, she was still panting. She looked around quickly.

"Freddie? Where's Freddie?" She sounded alarmed.

"I'm here." He said weakly, emerging from her side. Carrie then felt Blaze's hand squeeze her shoulders hard to get back her attention.

"Carrie! What do you mean the Charr have found us?" His voice echoed through the cave causing others nearby to stop and turn their heads in confusion and slight panic.

Rurik strode through them followed by Captain Calhaan and two other guards. "Bring her this way, we can talk with her properly."

The young Elementalist wrenched herself free of her friends grasp and looked panic stricken. "My lord there is no time, the Charr will be here within the hour, they plan to attack us just as night falls, we have to get everyone out."

Calhaan was the one who answered. "How did they find us and are you positive about this?"

"You were followed back here by a scout, he is leading Bonfaaz Burntfur and his army as we speak. We have to go right now."

Carrie looked at the survivors who were looking back at her, she couldn't bare to see anymore bloodshed. She spun back round to look directly into the Prince of Ascalon's eyes. "Sire, you must order an emergency evacuation we don't have much time left, we need to escape before it gets too dark."

There was a loud sound of a trumpet, everyone knew what it meant, it was a warning if the Charr came too close. The prince had taken the precaution of sending scouts of their own to be on the lookout around dusk. The cave erupted into panic, people began to start shoving and moving in order to escape, but Rurik was not having any disorder. Blaze lit up the cave by summoning a fireball to his hand. The prince then bellowed. "Silence!"

The whole cave fell into an unnerving silence, with all eyes facing Rurik, preparing to take orders from him. "Will everyone please not panic… Now all of you listen to what I have to say…"

Everyone remained quiet and listened intensely to Rurik. "The Charr have found us, but I swear on my ancestors graves that I will not let them kill anyone else under my protection. The Charr will fear this day as we take back what is ours and destroy their army."

Everyone in the cave from the civilians to the guards and fighters from Nolani Academy started to cheer.

"For Ascalon!" Everyone shouted.

"Now… we have to start evacuating all of the civilians and the injured as fast as we can into the Foothills and the Sanctuary in the south-west." Everyone looked at each other "Now move." Rurik commanded.

All civilians started to collect their possessions, and every able man and woman from the academy started to prepare for battle.

-

"How much longer to we get to the meat's cave?" Growled the Charr captain.

"Not much longer, just over the…" The scout was cut off by an arrow which imbedded itself right in the scouts neck.

All of the Charr roared in anger as they looked up to see human scouts getting ready to fire more arrows at the Charr invaders. The Charr captain let out a fierce roar, which made the earth shake. "Kill the meats". He ordered.

All of the Charr army in one single wave rushed at the scouts and all were killed in seconds. Only a few of the scouts managed to shoot their arrows in time and killed two or three of the Charr before they were ripped and mauled to death.

After the bloodbath the Charr roared in victory. Bonfaaz Burntfur ripped off one of the scout's heads and raised it. "Now we kill the rest of the meats in the cave and then begins our reign." Roared Bonfaaz Burntfur. All of the Charr roared and started to march again towards the cave which was close by.

-

"Hurry and load all of the wounded into the carts." Shouted Calhaan. He was very worried about what was approaching them and how much time they had to try and get everyone out that couldn't fight, but he didn't show it on this face, he remained calm and in control of the whole situation that was happening in front of him.

Carrie, Blaze, Freddie and Seregei were with Kaska who was still asleep and wasn't waking anytime soon from what sister Alesia had said to them. Carrie wanted Freddie and Kaska away from the cave and the Charr as soon as possible. Blaze agreed with Carrie on this issue, but Seregei knew that Kaska would not be happy when she woke up and found herself away from the battle that was going to arrive outside their hideout's door in any time soon.

Carrie kneeled down to Freddie's height. "I want you to go with them and look after Kaska for us ok." She said calmly.

"But I want to stay with you!" Freddie cried. Carrie looked at Freddie with a look that could of turned him into a froze statue of himself right then and there.

"You are going with them, end of discussion." She said sternly but calmly at the same time.

"But…"

"No buts…right now this place is not safe for you or any of us, especially you. I want you to go with Sister Aleisa and the others, is that understood?" Freddie nodded his head and Carrie led the way over to Sister Aleisa to explain the situation.

"Sister, may I ask that you look after young Freddie for me." Carrie requested. Alesia looked down at Freddie.

"I want you to stay by my side and not to wander away from the group alright?" The boy nodded his head as a response. Alesia then looked at Carrie. "I will take him with us and see that he stays with your friend."

"Thank you." Carrie bowed and left Freddie with Sister Alesia, then headed back over to Blaze and Seregei who were waiting for her by Kaska.

"Sister Alesia will take Freddie with her." Carrie informed them. Blaze was happy with that, at least now he could think about what they were going to do if the Charr army got here before they could get the wounded and the civilians out. Seregei on the other hand was more worried about the outcome of Kaska waking up and not being anywhere near the fighting. He knew that Kaska was not going to react very well to that.

"Can't we keep Kaska here? She will be fine in the cave." Seregei suggested to Blaze and Carrie.

"WHAT!" Carrie and Blaze shouted at the same time.

"I mean she is not going to react well to the fact that it was for her safety…" Seregei started to say.

"No, we are not leaving her here, and besides she will understand when we tell her the situation when we see her again." Carrie said.

"You mean if we see her again." Seregei said in a monotone voice.

Carrie didn't reply. They all knew what the risks were when they started training for a war that they thought wouldn't happen for a long time. In the end though they just had to stay together and try and survive the battle that will be taking place outside the cave walls.

All three friends looked at each other and then at Kaska, and they knew what had to be done. They helped bring Kaska towards one of the carts that would take the injured to a secure location away from the army of Charr and the battle.

Freddie came with Sister Alesia and was helped into the cart, but before that Seregei put Kaska's hair over the scar on her eye so that Freddie wouldn't ask about it. The carriages were about to leave with the wounded. Seregei waited for Blaze and Carrie to leave before he turned to Freddie.

"Hey Freddie." Freddie looked at Seregei. "Just in case Kaska should wake on the journey give her this." Seregei handed Freddie a sword that was the same sword that Kaska used to interrogate and kill the Charr on the way to the cave.

Freddie looked at the sword with wonder and fear in his eyes. "Don't worry she won't kill you…at least I think she won't anyway." Freddie's eyes widened in fear even more. The carriages started to move. "Oh and by the way make sure you point her in the right direction if she wakes up." He nodded as the carriages with the wounded started their journey towards the sanctuary.

-

"We are close I can taste the stench of fear on them." The Charr captain said with what could have passed as a smile on the Charr's face. Bonfaaz Burntfur was also smiling. "Yes the humans are scared and soon they will find out why they should fear us."

"Sire there are carriages heading away from their base, there seems to be meats aboard." Bonfaaz Burntfur looked at the scout.

"Any more news to report?" Bonfaaz Burntfur snarled.

"Yes there is…the people in the carriages seem to be injured, but the rest of the meats are in the cave still."

"Should we kill the meats in the carriages?" The Charr captain asked Bonfaaz Burntfur.

"No…they will be taken care of by the patrols around the area that the meats are travelling too. We will be feasting tonight as kings." Bonfaaz Burntfur started to laugh and the others joined in.

"Now wipe out all of the humans left. Captain you lead."

The captain nodded and drew his sword and shield then roared. Then the whole army marched.

-

Prince Rurik was ordering all of the guards to get the other carriages and yaks ready to take the civilians to the foothills, but was cut short by the loud roar that was so close that it felt to Rurik that the Charr were right on top of him. The door to the front of the cave opened and a guard on the outside who was on watch came limping in.

Mhenlo and Rurik both rushed to the guard's side. "What happened?" The guard looked at the prince.

"The Charr are coming over the hill, they are almost here." With that the guard passed out from the pain.

"Mhenlo…"

"Yes Prince Rurik."

"Heal the guard as fast as you can, we can't get the civilians out so we will have to fight for this place with our lives." Rurik said this with sorrow and anger in his heart.

"I understand." Mhenlo said as he started to speak the spell to heal the guard's wounds.

The Prince turned and looked at everyone in the cave who had stopped doing what they were doing to see what was happening. Rurik regained his composure and spoke to everyone.

"The Charr are almost here, so we cannot chance getting the civilians out of here without casualties." Everyone started to whisper to each other. "But we will not let them enter this cave…I promise you all that." Blaze, Carrie and Seregei watched as everyone quietened down to hear the Prince. "We will fight them right here. We will not show fear, we will not show cowardice and we most certainly will not retreat or surrender." Everyone cheered in agreement. "Now prepare for battle, we will show those Charr that Ascalon doesn't let anything like them crush the spirit that this place holds. For Ascalon!"

"For Ascalon!"

-

Freddie looked out of the back of the carriage and wondered if Carrie and her other friends were alright. He looked at Kaska who was still asleep. He smiled and looked at the sword that Seregei had given him. "Why did he give me this when nothing is going to happen?"

The carriages had travelled fast to get out of the way, so that the Charr didn't see them and were about half way towards the destination that they were heading for. Freddie was glad that he was safe, but half of him wished that he was allowed to stay with Carrie and the others.

He heard moaning behind him and saw that Kaska was sweating and moving around in the cover that she was under. Freddie went to the front of the carriage. "Um Sister?" Alesia looked back at him.

"Yes."

"Carrie's friend is…um…sweating a bit and I was wondering what to do."

"Here." Alesia handed Freddie a cloth that was damp. "Just lightly pat her head with this and she should be all right." Freddie nodded and crawled back to where Kaska was. Freddie moved her hair away from her face and saw it. Kaska's scar on her right eye.

-

Every person who trained at the academy who was still alive and not injured were ready to fight and protect the civilians.

"Well in case one of us three doesn't make it it's been great knowing you guys and having you as friends." Seregei said with a smile. "At least I get to have fun before I die."

Blaze and Carrie laughed. Seregei always knew how to make them laugh even in dire times.

"Yes it's been great, but we will survive or else Kaska will come to our graves and ridicule us about being stupid and having ourselves killed so quickly." Blaze said while laughing.

Then the laughter went and all three friends looked at each other. "Lets try and stay positive…and pray to Balthazar that we gain an advantage in this battle." Carrie said in a serious manner. Both Blaze and Seregei nodded.

"Open the door." Rurik shouted.

The door to the entrance of the cave opened and all of the fighters walked out. "Blaze close the door." Mhenlo said in a solemn voice. Blaze nodded and closed his eyes and concentrated very hard and the doors slowly closed again.

Blaze turned and saw something that made his blood run cold. The Charr army that Carrie had talked about was only a few metres away.

"May Dwayna have mercy on our souls." Rurik said.

All of the Charr were lined up and ready to fight till the death.

"Everyone into battle positions." Rurik shouted. All of the warriors went in the front; rangers and elementalists went to the back and all of the rest went behind the warriors for a second attack.

The Charr captain smiled and then roared and the whole army at once rushed towards the humans who stood their ground.

"Steady men, let them come to us." Captain Calhaan said. All of the warriors withdrew their swords from their sheaths. "Get ready!" They all waited. They could feel the Charr getting closer and closer. Carrie's heart was beating faster and faster the closer the Charr got. The Charr roared.

"NOW!" All of the warriors swung their swords in an uppercut and met the first wave of Charr with a sickening sound of blades slicing through bone and blood spraying everywhere. Then both sides clashed in a whirl of blades and blood.

-

Freddie stared at the scar with wonder and amazement, wondering how did such a person get something like that. He slowly placed the cloth on her head, which made her move her head a bit, but it still showed the scar. Freddie then put the cloth down and brought out his hand, he wanted to feel it to see if it was real. He brought his hand down and touched the scar with one of his fingers from where it started to where it ended. He was surprised that it was actually real. He just brought his finger back to the beginning when it happened.

In a flash one of Kaska's hands grabbed Freddie's hand that was touching her scar. Freddie screamed and tried to get his hand free, but Kaska's grip would not break.

Freddie tried frantically to get his hand free. When Kaska's eye with the scar on it opened, Freddie looked into the eye and saw the eye turn and look at him. Freddie's blue eyes met the pale blue eyes of Kaska. Then without a moment's hesitation Kaska full on grabbed Freddie and fell out of the carriage, which continued on without them.

They both rolled to a stop and Kaska brought out a short sword, which see kept on her at all times and held it to Freddie's throat.

"Who in Grenth's name are you?" Kaska said in a threatening tone.

"My names…Freddie." Sobbed Freddie.

"Stop crying and tell me who sent you." Kaska shouted.

"I was given a sword… its over there… it might have fallen out when you dragged us off the carriage…" Freddie started.

"Shut up."

Freddie whimpered when she said this. Kaska looked over at the sword, which was stuck in the ground a few steps away and then looked back down at the waste of space that lay underneath her. Kaska rolled her eyes and withdrew the short sword from Freddie's throat.

Freddie was still breathing heavily when Kaska got up off the ground and put the sword back to where its sheath was. She then looked down at him and grabbed Freddie by the scruff of the neck and brought him up to a standing position.

"This way kid." Freddie was dragged by Kaska all the way to the sword and then was meet by the hard ground.

Freddie then looked back up to see that Kaska had all ready taken the sword out of the ground. She then slowly walked up to Freddie and stared at him. All that Freddie could see of her was the sword in her hands as the sunlight was behind her head, which created this silhouette and cast her shadow over him.

"Now then who gave you this sword?" Kaska asked, but wasn't really interested which could be heard in her voice.

"A guy said to give you this if you were to wake up."

"Who exactly."

"One of Carrie's friends…she also told me to look after you when we were travelling to the sanctuary." Freddie yelled.

"Hey kid were you ever told not to yell at a person who has a sword in their hands?" Kaska asked in a mischievous voice.

"I don't know why Carrie is friends with a person who is nothing but a rogue and has an attitude of a Charr." He said with a grim determination on his face.

Kaska just looked at him and then smiled. "You have guts kid to say that to me." She then held out her hand, which Freddie after a while took.

"Ok so what else happened when I was out of it?" Kaska asked in a monotone voice.

"We have to go and see if the others got out of the cave." Freddie said in a worried voice.

"Why?"

"Because the Charr have found the base and it might be too late." Freddie started to cry again.

Kaska just rolled her eyes again at the way that Freddie was reacting to the situation.

"How far is the base from here…have you been watching the road, so you know your way back." Kaska asked in a frustrated manner.

"Yes…why?" Freddie asked in between sobs.

Before he was given a reply Kaska grabbed him again and chucked him onto her back in a piggy back style and started to run. "Just direct me back to the base and when we get there do as I say."

"Thank you." Freddie whispered as Kaska ran back towards the base.

-

"We can't let them pass." Rurik shouted over the top of screams, roars and the sound of people dying.

Over the last hour they had already lost a good few number of people from their army and so have the Charr, but when a hundred Charr were killed another hundred seem to take there place.

Captain Calhaan had just decapitated a Charr and was fighting another one, but didn't realise that a Charr warrior was coming up behind him. Calhaan had sliced its leg, which made the Charr go to his knees. "AHHHHHHHHH" Roared Calhaan as well as the Charr, and then came the sound of metal breaking through flesh and bone.

Calhaan forcefully pulled out his sword from the dead Charr's body and before he could react a fireball came flying out of nowhere and went over his head and hit the warrior behind him. The Charr roared in pain and anguish before it died. He looked back behind him and saw Blaze.

"Thank you." Calhaan yelled over the fighting.

Before Blaze could reply he was attacked by two Charr warriors. Blaze raised his hands and quickly created a shield of earth around him, but one of the Charr's swords got through the shield and stabbed Blaze in the left shoulder.

"Ahhhhh." The shield dropped and the Charr warrior who had stabbed Blaze removed the sword and bashed Blaze with its shield, which ended with Blaze on the ground. Blaze put his right hand over his left shoulder to stop the bleeding and looked up at the Charr who was about to finish him off.

"BLAZE!" Carrie yelled as she saw what was about to happen, but was in a whole fight of her own and surrounded by many other elementalists.

"SEREGEI HELP BLAZE!" Carrie yelled over to Seregei, who was much closer to Blaze.

"I am a little busy at the moment." Seregei shouted as he blasted a Charr with a spell from his Truncheon.

Seregei then tried to run to Blaze, but was surrounded again by more Charr. "BLAZE!"

-

"We are almost there." Freddie said to Kaska.

"Great can't wait to have some fun." She said through gasps of air.

"You ok." Freddie asked worryingly

"I am fine…just not exactly one hundred percent fighting fit yet and come on I just ran all the way here." Kaska smiled when saying this, but still moved forward.

"Hey do you hear that?" Kaska stopped moving and listened.

She heard the faint sound of screams and roars from ahead of them. Freddie's heart was beating very fast, while Kaska just smiled and evil smile. "Hold on Freddie we are about to have some fun."

She then ran even faster than she did from where they had fallen from the carriage. In minuets she was on one of the sides of the gorge that lea into the open area where the base was. The sight that they saw made Freddie cringe, but Kaska smiled with joy. The open area was filled with Charr and humans alike. The screams and roars heard just made Kaska smile even more.

Then a yell caught both of their attentions. "BLAZE!" Kaska looked down to see who did the yelling and saw Carrie in the middle of a bunch of elementalists. She was looking right below where Kaska and Freddie were.

Kaska put Freddie down and then slowly both looked over the edge. Kaska was shocked to see Blaze on the ground clutching his left shoulder and attempting to crawl back from a Charr warrior with very little success.

"That thing is about to kill him." Freddie screamed at Kaska.

Kaska just looked at Freddie and smiled. "No he won't."

Kaska then hit Freddie and caught him before he fell over the edge. She put him down under a good shelter of rocks and took the sword that she had given him to hold and looked down at Freddie. "This bit of the fight kid you do not want to see."

With that she walked to the edge and made sure that the Charr that was about to kill Blaze was underneath her. She then walked a few metres away turned back and waited. Then she heard one final yell "BLAZE NO!" She ran and with sword in hand jumped from the edge of the gorge towards the Charr above Blaze.

Carrie looked back and saw the Charr was about to finish off Blaze and no one could reach him. "BLAZE NO!"

Blaze looked at the Charr who was about to be his downfall and looked at it with a look of defiance on his face. "Do your worst." With that Blaze closed his eyes and waited for the painful sensation that would fill his body and kill him.

The Charr roared and in that moment the Charr's roar was cut short. Blaze then felt something watery land on his face.

Blaze slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the Charr. What he saw was a sword pierced right through the Charr's chest and the Charr's blood was slowly dripping from the point onto his face. The Charr's blood was a purplish black colour. The sword was then violently ripped out of the Charr's chest and the body fell to the side.

"You can't even last two to three hours without me." Blaze looked up at that point and saw someone he thought he wouldn't be seeing.

"Kaska? You're here! You were supposed to be…." Blaze said in shock and worry.

"Well I kind of had a little detour…oh and thanks for the sword that you gave that kid."

"What kid." Blaze asked and then it clicked.

"Seregei."

"Oh and by the way you should be a bit faster with the whole earth shield thing that you do." Kaska said with a hint of laughter in her voice. She then held out her hand for Blaze to take. Blaze took it with pain in his shoulder.

"You need to get that looked at." Kaska said in a matter of fact tone.

"I know."

"We need a healer." Kaska shouted.

"You shouldn't be here Kaska you are not well."

"I am well enough." Kaska replied back in a harsh tone.

"But…" Blaze was interrupted by a young monk who had appeared.

"Someone call for a healer." The monk asked.

"Yes he needs his shoulder to be looked at…see you later Blaze." Kaska then ran off into battle slashing two Charr's throats on the way.

"She is really nice." The monk said.

"You have no idea what that woman is capable of." Blaze replied.

He then looked at his shoulder and saw the young monks healing spell working and very quickly, which he was thankful for.

"There you go."

"Thank you very much, now excuse me."

Blaze rushed in to the battle to try and find where Kaska had gone.

-

Freddie had started to wake from being knocked out from Kaska and looked up to see no Kaska at all. But what he did saw made his face pale.

"Hello meat."

Freddie screamed and managed to get out in time before an axe came down were he was.

"Help me!" Freddie shouted.

The Charr captain who had tried to kill the boy chased after him.

-

"Wouldn't mind a little help here." Seregei yelled to no one in particular. He had dropped his truncheon a while ago and had picked up a sword from the ground. He was being over whelmed and needed help, but no one was coming.

One Charr was about to cut him in two, when out of nowhere a short sword slammed into the Charr's face. Seregei looked behind him and saw the person who had saved his life.

"Kaska long time no see." Seregei said with a grin.

"Yes well I needed to thank you for giving that kid this sword." Kaska said while getting her short sword back from the Charr's face.

The Charr enclosed both Kaska and Seregei in a circle, which meant that both of them had to fight back to back.

"Well this is going to be a challenge." Seregei said.

"I thought that you liked a challenge or was that a lie."

"I do like a challenge." Seregei said with a smirk on his face.

"Well how about we play a game?" Kaska asked.

"What game would that be?"

"The person at the end of this fight with the highest number of kills wins." Kaska said with a smile.

"Sounds like fun." Seregei said with a smile now coming onto his features.

"Then go!" Kaska shouted as she slammed her sword into a Charr who decided to take a chance to go into the circle. "Well that's one to me, you better keep up." Seregei just smiled and laughed.

Then all of the Charr charged them, Kaska was fighting two at a time using the short blade to help her block both of the Charr's attacks. She was slow on one dodge and a Charr took advantage of that and managed to slice Kaska's arm all the way up to the shoulder. Kaska gasped at the pain but then rushed both of them. One Charr with an axe took a swipe at Kaska who ducked low and stabbed the short blade and the long sword into both of the Charr's foots. Both Charr howled in pain, which gave Kaska an opening. She ripped both blades out of their feet and uppercut them and both blades connected with their necks. Charr's blood sprayed everywhere while they both fell backwards.

Seregei on the other hand was doing a kind of dance while stabbing all Charr who came close enough and then brought the sword out and in an arc and cut off an on coming Charr's head.

In the end though they were both back to back again. "Ok this is getting annoying." Kaska said.

"I agree, we kill about ten of these and another ten take their place." Seregei said.

"Here they come again." Kaska said in an annoyed tone. But before Kaska could do anything she heard a scream and then a yell. "Help me!"

Kaska looked up and saw that Freddie was awake and that a Charr had found him. "Seregei start moving this way." Kaska yelled.

Seregei turned around just in time to see Kaska cut off two Charr's heads and dodged before getting her own chopped off.

Kaska then ran to the side of the gorge and shouted. "Hey kid jump down here."

-

Freddie was backing to the very end of the gorge with the Charr captain getting closer with each step.

"I am going to enjoy tearing you to pieces." The Charr captain said with hunger in his eyes and starting to drool.

"Hey kid jump down here."

Freddie looked behind him and down into the open area and saw Kaska their waiting for him to jump.

"I can't." He yelled back.

"Look you either jump or you get sliced in two by that ugly beast, which do you choose kid." Kaska yelled frustrated at the boy for not doing as she said.

Freddie looked back just in time to back away as an axe came inches away from his head. Unfortunately he slipped and fell. Freddie thought that it was the end for him, so he closed his eyes in fear and tears started to pour from his closed eyes. But then he stopped right before he hit the ground. Freddie opened his eyes and saw that he had been caught by Kaska. "Next time just jump will you." She said in an annoyed voice.

"Thank you, thank you." Freddie yelled at her and then hugged her. This was the first time Kaska had ever been hugged and she didn't' know what to do. "Its ok you are very welcome." Kaska said. She was hesitant but then started patting Freddie on the back to make him feel better and to make him stop hugging her at the same time.

There was a loud bang and the earth shook so much that half of the people on the battlefield fell to the ground. Kaska was also one of the people who lost their footing and landed on her side with Freddie still in her arms.

"You all right kid." Kaska asked. Freddie nodded, but then screamed.

Kaska rolled onto her back and saw what he was screaming about. The Charr captain had followed suit and jumped to the ground below. "Damn it Freddie get off of me." Kaska yelled and hurled Freddie from her, which he ended up rolling away from her just in time as the Charr captain stepped on Kaska's stomach and started to apply pressure.

"Ah…you know that hurts a lot." Kaska shouted up at the Charr.

"You will die right here right now." The Charr captain roared and lifted up its axe.

Kaska smiled when she heard the whistling of arrows. Before the Captain could kill Kaska, around four arrows hit him in the arm and shoulder, which made him drop the axe and step off of Kaska.

"What took you so long?" Kaska asked Eva as she came running up to her.

"Well I kind of had to deal with my own hand full of Charr, but I am fine, thanks for asking." Eva said sarcastically. Kaska just laughed at the same time as picking up her sword.

"Well this Charr is definitely bigger than the others. You want to bet that he is the captain of this little army?" Kaska said, not caring really what the answer was and wanting to kill the blasted beast with her own two hands.

"Yes I agree with you there. Shall we?" Eva said as she took out another arrow.

With that Kaska rushed in with Eva backing her up. The Charr captain had just removed all of the arrows and picked up its axe. Kaska managed to stab it in the side where there wasn't any armour. But was to slow to dodge the Charr's arm, which bashed into her and sent Kaska flying into the other side of the gorge wall.

Blaze saw what happened and rushed all the way over to Kaska who was on the ground in pain.

"Kaska are you all right?"

"Oh I am just peachy…ouch." Kaska said through the pain in her body.

"Well that's…" Blaze was interrupted by an axe almost taking off Kaska's head if she hadn't moved a minute ago.

The Charr captain grabbed Kaska by the throat and kept her in the air. The Charr brought its axe back ready to do the final strike. It didn't happen. Blaze had conjured up stone like daggers and threw them at the captain. One was imbedded in its leg, another in its chest while the other almost hit Eva if she didn't throw herself out of the way.

The Charr captain brought Kaska right up to his face and roared. Kaska took the opportunity to touch the Charr's head. Blaze realised what Kaska was doing. Her hand had a faint aura around it and when she touched the Charr, his breathing froze and its eyes rolled into the back of its head and fell backwards.

Kaska released herself from the dead Charr's grasp and shakily stood up. Her body was in pain all over and Kaska knew that she had broken a rib due to her fall onto the Charr that was going to kill Blaze.

When she looked up she saw that all of the Charr that were still alive were running away and the rangers were trying to take as many down so that not many could get away.

"Hey you alright?" Blaze asked Kaska.

"Just fine." She said before collapsing in his arms. "Ok maybe not one hundred percent alright." She said laughing.

"I think you need to see a monk." Blaze said, his voice thick with worry.

Blaze helped Kaska all the way to the front of the cave where the others were resurrecting people who's souls weren't gone yet and the healers healing all of the injured.

The young monk who had healed Blaze was now seeing to Kaska's injures. "You really have done in your ribs." The monk said.

"Yeah I know."

"Kaska?" Someone yelled.

Kaska looked up to see Carrie, Seregei and Freddie walking towards her. "You know you risked this young boys life just to get into the blood shed?" Carrie said with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Well the kids fine…he's still alive." Kaska said with no interest at all in what Carrie had to say at that particular moment.

"You can't just make a child jump off the side of a gorge…" But before Carrie could continue Freddie rushed in and hugged Kaska, who gasped in pain from the position of the hug.

"Can you let go of me now?" Kaska asked in pain.

Freddie let go and walked back over to Carrie who was silent. "There you go, all done." The young monk said.

"Thank you." Kaska said.

Prince Rurik was sending the carriages with all of the civilians left to the sanctuary. Rurik then turned to the rest. "We have won this fight, but it will not last, we need to strike at the heart of the army and search for the Flame Keepers. We will split up and hopefully we will win this war."

"For Ascalon!" Everyone yelled.

It only took a few minutes for everyone to be ready and start to split up. Some went on their own and few went in teams of four or two. While the rest went with Prince Rurik. Kaska, Carrie, Blaze and Seregei had come together before they went on their own way alone. They had seen Freddie off with the last of the carriages. They all looked at each other. "Well I guess I will see you guys after this war." Carrie said with a look of sorrow.

"Yes we will. I can see that happening." Seregei said with a smile.

"I wish you guys speed and luck. May Dwayna smile on us." Blaze said.

"Well you guys better stay alive or I will be ashamed to have been your friend." Kaska said with a chuckle.

With that they all walked in different directions and so began the war against the Charr.

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A/N: Hope you liked that, **A** gets all the credit for that as she spent the whole day writing this.

On another note **M** has now started University so writing her chapters might take slightly longer, for which she apologises but until next time.


	8. Two Years Later

A/N: Here is the latest instalment, it is however slightly shorter than previous one to balance it out as the last one was longer than average but hopefully that won't make it any less interesting.

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**Chapter 8 – Two years later…**

"Welcome back, Carrie Senyah. It looks like the patrol went well your still in one piece at any rate… Listen your father needs to talk with you." A deep male voice said, it belonged to a bearded warrior wearing Platemail armor with the engraving of the letter V on the chest armour.

This mans name was Captain Osric, a personal friend to the Prince and a member of the Vanguard which is what the 'V' on his chest stood for.

"Thank you Osric, do you know where my father is?" Carrie replied.

"He was with Calhaan last time I saw they are with the prince in the Ascalon Arena training some other young warriors." He informed the young elementalist.

"Alright, thanks." She said walking past him and into the ruins of Ascalon City.

-

"Getting better Freddie, but you should never let your guard down, right AGAIN!" Isaac commanded, which was follow by the sounds of blades clanging against one another.

Carrie entered the arena silently and sat down on the ground watching the sparring matches going on. Prince Rurik was stood on a ledge watching intently as his top soldiers teach their students.

Along with Isaac members of the Ascalon Vanguard were training other apprentices. Carrie looked at the other sparring partner recognising Captain Calhaan, Arne, Greywind and West.

Isaac wasn't part of the Vanguard as he unlike the others had a family. However he had trained alongside these great warriors.

"Alright!" He called, "We shall break for the day, well done everyone." He walked towards the exit near where Carrie was sat; she got up and saluted him as he walked past.

"Carrie!" A voice called to her, Freddie strode up to her and they both bowed low to one another as a formal greeting.

"Hey Freddie, good spar?"

"Yeah, Isaac says I'll be really ready to fight after my training."

"That's great news, well I better let you go for a bite to eat, I will catch up with you soon."

Carrie watched him as he headed past her smiling and waving as he went. She turned to her father who removed his helmet and embraced his daughter and kissed her head lightly.

"I'm pleased to see you back safely, anything interesting on your hunt?" Isaac asked.

"Just Devourers, Stone Elementals and Crawl today." She explained.

"Where did you go?"

"Around the ruins of the city, saw some others out hunting but not much. So I hear Freddie is doing well."

"Yes." Isaac smiled. "He is proving to be a very brave soldier I have high hopes for him."

"Not pushing him to hard then father?"

"Only what he can endure." He paused for a moment. "Actually I was meaning to talk to you."

Carrie's head perked up. "Yes Osric told me, so what is it about?"

"Let go and get a drink then I can explain." He told her leading her out of the arena doors passing some mesmer's who had come to train in the arena.

-

"That girl, what is her name?" Asked a gruff voice that belonged to a Charr.

"Her name is Carrie Senyah, daughter of a brave warrior Isaac Senyah who is also very close to the Prince of Ascalon." A man's voice replied. He was holding a Bow and wearing brown leather clothing making him recognisable as a ranger.

"She was one that stood against us at the start of the searing." The Charr explained.

"Being the daughter of one of the strongest of Ascalon it is no surprise. He is known amongst Ascalonians as The Charr Slayer."

The Charr Chief paused when he heard the name and then turned to speak to the Ranger. "You have done well to serve us and keep a look out for other scouts on patrol. Keep this agreement up on your side and we shall on ours."

"Thank you." He bowed low and departed back for Ascalon city.

Another Charr approached Bonfaaz after the human had gone.

"Hold up your side of this deal?" The other Charr asked.

"As far as he is aware Garfazz, once we have no further use for him he is dinner." Bonfaaz told his fellow Charr.

"Why the interest in this girl?"

"Do you remember the human known as The Charr Slayer?"

Garfazz let out a growl in anger. "The Charr Slayer? How is that blue haired snack size human related to him?"

"She is his offspring." Bonfaaz explained.

"Do you want us to put scouts on her?" Garfazz growled again. "We could ambush her on her next patrol, I've noticed she often hunts alone."

"Get the scouts to follow her and see if they find out anything more but they are not to attack."

"Bonfaaz, the way to get at the Charr Slayer is through the girl."

"Garfazz, do not argue." Bonfaaz commanded. "Inform the scouts then return to your post."

"Yes as you wish." He replied saluting to his co-leader before heading off in a northwest direction.

-

"Father, you promised me that you would stay around Ascalon and no more missions!" Carrie exclaimed angrily at Isaac.

"I know Carrie and I'm sorry." Isaac tried to explain. "But it is my duty to Rurik. Captain Greywind and I have been sent on a mission to Kryta to negotiate and secure a place for the refugee's to live."

"But why must you go?" She snapped back.

"I am doing this on behalf of those in need, the ones who cannot fight and defend themselves should the Charr ever be able to break into the city."

"You always do what is right for those regardless of how much I need you, since mother was killed it feels like you have tried to put some distance between us as I remind you so much of her!"

"Carrie! That is not fair."

"I think it more than fair father all you really care about is living up to your nickname of 'The Great Charr Slayer'!" The last three words were said with complete sarcasm.

"CARRIETTA SENYAH!" Isaac bellowed at his daughter, but this only made things worse.

"You promised me you wouldn't go out on anymore dangerous missions now your going back on your promise just try to think about how I feel for once instead of the others." Carrie stood up abruptly picking up her staff and stormed over to the cities portal ignoring her father pleas for her to listen and be reasonable.

"Carrie please…" Isaac's voice called after her.

Carrie spun round her eyes were glowing a slight tint of white. "I will be alone if I lose you father, I will have no one I don't even know if my friends are alive it's been two years since I last saw them, just think about that on your travels with Greywind." She informed him before stepping through the portal into the ruins of old Ascalon.

-

The man who had spoken to Bonfaaz earlier had been looking on with interest at the scene caused by father and daughter.

"This should be some interesting information." The man muttered to himself.

He had noticed the Charr's reaction when he had mentioned Isaac's nickname, and realised he had a price over his head. He thought if he gave the Charr this piece of information about his intended travels to the kingdom of Kryta with the other captain he might even gain a reward.

He got up looking over to see Isaac march over towards where his fellow warrior's Greywind, Osric and Calhaan were talking.

He headed over towards where the portal was and stepped outside with the purpose of delivering this news to the Charr chief.

-

"Well, how did she take the news?" Greywind asked.

"You didn't hear her practically bite my head off back there then?" He said looking crestfallen at Carrie's harsh words.

"Well I think I know who she got her temper from." Osric pointed out.

Isaac chuckled. "Well definitely not her mother. She has her eyes though and looks at me in exactly the same way Mischa did when she was angry."

"Give her time to cool off, she will come round." Calhaan said comfortingly putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I hope your right." He sighed. "Well who is up for a bit of friendly sparring?"

The others cheered and struck up conversation, heading over towards the Arena.

-

"Do you have any idea when they plan to leave for Kryta?" A rough voice asked.

"No, but I did also overhear that they plan to head through the mountains, passing Borliss Pass and The Frost Gate." The ranger replied.

"You said the girl is nearby?"

"Yes she stormed out after having an argument with her father."

Just then Garfaaz Bloodfang emerged with a Charr Warrior, Scout and Shaman behind him. In the two years the Charr had come up with another more strategic way of hunting, not by sending the same profession in a group to hunt but to send a variety and the smallest in numbers to be found was usually three.

"They will go out and look for our snack."

"No need Garfaaz, our informant here has reported something much more interesting. The child is no longer of our concern, once the slayer has been taken care of then you can kill her." Bonfaaz went on to explain about their mission to Kryta.

"Still want the troops sent out to watch the area?"

"Yes, if they find anything they can bring it back for our dinner."

Garfazz let out a growl, which was an order for the troops to set off. Again the ranger departed leaving them so the Charr could discuss a way to intercept the mission to Kryta.

-

A young male elementalist walked quietly through old Ascalon, noticing a large Crystal nearby he looked at it wondering how all of these had managed to turn a once beautiful place into a desolate and decaying wasteland.

He heard a faint growl near one of the crystals and raised his staff in case it was a Charr.

He looked closer and saw a single female Melandru's Stalker prowling around. Blaze stood still as the Stalker has noticed him, her beady eyes keeping watch of the human. Since the searing Stalkers were very rare to find.

Blaze could tell this was a female as its fur was of a lighter shade of brown, wondering if there were anymore in existence, the last time he had seen one was Quickshot's pet stalker before the match they had over two years ago.

Blaze realised his staff was still raised which he thought might make the cat in front of him weary, lowering it slowly the cat dropped her gaze and went back to prowling.

He sighed and started to make his way south towards the city of Ascalon. However he was unaware of the Charr that were following at a distance.

-

"It's one of those heroes from the start of the siege." A scout called to the others.

"Are we following?" A Warrior replied.

"Why not, we are running low on food as it is" Chipped in a third one who was a Shaman.

"Then we will take him." The scout ordered.

The others roared and picked up the pace.

-

Blaze stopped he swore he could hear roars which he knew didn't belong to stalkers; he then heard the sound of something behind him running up to him.

He spun round and came face to face with the three Charr who were on patrol. They rounded on him.

"You're making a mistake." Blaze said coolly.

"You'll be the one saying when we have you roasting on a spit, your no match for the three of us." The warrior growled.

"Really?" Blaze replied back. His eyes turned a different colour as he caused boulders rise out of the ground and hover around him. "Well… only one way to find out."

-

Carrie was calmly sitting down on the hard earth after her shouting match with her father. Her eyes were red and sore from where the tears had formed and rolled down her cheeks.

The young elementalist sighed deeply. Knowing what she had said to her father was harsh; she was just annoyed at him having made her a promise and then going back on it.

Guessing Rurik had asked him to go as the people of Kryta were aware of him due to his title and would probably make it easier to make an agreement for the Ascalonians who could not help defend the city.

She had to try and calm herself down, as emotion was what drove her power. She was grateful no one was around when she had let her grief out; her power had taken a dramatic leap and found she could not control it as she was still in training at the time.

In her spare time she had been working on controlling the other elements better besides water and had vastly improved over the last 2 years. She now found she could control all 4 with great ease and had found effective ways to use them. Her father had taught her about strategy and how she could put it into practise with the other elements too.

Reflecting on the events that had happened in the last two years she was brought out of them by a loud roar.

"Charr here?" She said out loud. Standing up and looking over in the direction the noise was coming from. Deciding it would be worth investigating she headed towards the north cautiously.

-

The Shaman and Scout lay on the flood dead. The warrior had no been affected so much by the rocks due to its armour being made of metal.

Blaze had picked up on this so decided to use fire. Torching the Warriors fur, it howled in pain for a moment before dropping on the floor and rolling to put the fire out. He faced the Charr as it slowly got up it roared at Blaze before charging and sent him crashing to the ground. Raising his sword to strike the dark hair elementalist. When out of nowhere water splashed and drenched the Charr.

Blaze looked on as the water on the armour turned to ice before breaking apart shattering the metal.

The Charr looked horrified as its armour broke and fell off as this meant it had no way of defending itself. Blaze looked up as a dark cloud formed above the beast and a bolt of lightning pass straight through it making a nasty sizzling noise.

Blaze panted as it fell beside him, he got up picking up his staff. "Thank you so much, I…" He stopped as he turned to face the one who had saved him.

Stood in front of him was Carrie, her fringe being gently pulled out of her eyes by the wind. She looked directly back at him a slight smile on her face.

"Carrie…?" Blaze asked. He blinked a few times not sure if he was seeing correctly.

"Hello Blaze…"

* * *

A/N: We will try our best to keep the uploading of chapters regular from now on, as always please leave a review as they are really helpful we can then improve our writing to make it an even better story! Would very much appreciate it.

**R, A &M.**


	9. Reunited

We are all so so so so sorry for such a slow update. We have been so busy, but over the summer we intend to get this story finished. Enjoy chapter 9!

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**Chapter 9 – Reunited**

"You just saved my life, thank you." Blaze smiled at her.

He walked up to her and embraced her, it had been two years since they had seen one another he felt a relief that she was alive, he could feel she had lost weight and looked physically weaker, however her power had increased massively and it looked like she had learnt to master all the elements instead of just one.

"What's happened to you over these last two years? I haven't heard from you or seen you? Have you heard from Kaska or Seregei?" He asked her hurriedly.

He looked back at her, her face had a puzzled expression, and her eyes looked glazed and sad. "I'm glad you're safe Blaze, I haven't heard from them since we parted company two year ago. I..." A loud roar filled the air not far away, cutting her short.

Both heads jerked towards the sound and Carrie grabbed Blaze's arm. "Charr patrols, we need to get away from here." Blaze was yanked off his feet.

"We are heading back to Ascalon aren't we?" He asked her, he was having difficulty recognising the area as he hadn't been back for years, last time he saw the city or the area surrounding it, it had been very green and full of life now it was nothing but burnt wasteland, far worse than when the attack on Tyria had started.

"Yes, we will be safe there, the Charr won't attack us, the previous times they have they have lost there were more casualties on their side than ours. We don't know what their next move is yet so we have to stay on guard but if they have any sense they will stay away from the city." She explained.

"What were you doing out here anyway Carrie?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

They stopped and faced one another their eyes had a slight glare about them as they met, Carrie was the first to look away, she didn't want to argue as she had just done so with Isaac, she took a heavy inhale and looked back up at him.

"My father and I had some words, I was upset and would have taken my anger out on the nearest thing that came anywhere near me, whether it be a Devourer, Grawl or a Charr, I heard the roars and decided to investigate, if I hadn't you might not be in such good condition." She finished the sentence with light sarcasm but her eyes showed the serious side of the conversation. "What about you? Where have you been for the last two years?"

Blaze turned and continued walking. "I was posted back at the Academy, patrolling on the border of the mountains around Ascalon Foothills, while on patrol around there I didn't realise how far I had ventured as I had found the paw prints of a Stalker and followed them to where it's been living, I spotted it when I was cornered by a pack of Charr, I tried to hold them off but there were too many so I was a little out numbered but then you appeared."

"Who gave you the order to patrol the mountains? We know that the Charr don't venture up too far into them. They are too scared of the hydras that dwell there if you ask me..." Carrie gave a short harsh laugh at the thought.

"Rurik..." Blaze replied simply. "... He seems to want to be sure of the passageway through the mountains. Had me to accompany the soldiers going as far as yaks weekly just to check that the situation remains unchanged..."

"Why would he want to know that the passage through the mountains was safe?" Carrie sounded a little puzzled at the prince's logic.

"He has been asking the king for sometime for permission to start evacuation to Kryta." Blaze replied. "If you ask me though I think the whole idea is ridiculous, we would lose more of our people during the journey through the mountains than we would just sticking it out here with the Charr..."

"You say that now." Carrie said, a note of menace in her voice. "But with the power of the Krytans behind us we would stand more chance of survival in my opinion."

Blaze fell silent, considering her, then realised that she did not actually address his concern in the matter. "That doesn't make up for the fact that we would more than likely perish on our journey there! I'm not saying the power of the Krytans would not help, I am just saying that getting to that power would be too difficult..."

They fell silent. At last they had reached the worn down gates to what once had been Ascalon city. The guards moved aside as they approached.

"Pointless those two being there if you ask me..." Carrie commented, " I doubt the Charr will return anytime soon."

"Now aren't you two a sight for sore eyes...?" Both of them spun round on the spot. Walking through the gates a few paces behind them was none other than their very own Seregei. "How long has it been...two years?"

They walked over to him. Blaze grasped hands with him firmly, and Carrie did the same after. They looked at him. He had not change much over the two years, except for the fact that he looked a little bit more matured in the face than he was when they knew him at the academy.

"Just ventured here with a message from the people at Sardelac they are need of more supplies, nothing but devourers all they way. If you ask me, the Charr are amassing somewhere else, and only have small patrols round there lands."

"Heard anything from Kaska?" Blaze asked. He could not stop himself. It did not feel right that the three of them had reunited and Kaska still remained a mystery...

"She has been designated to the Wall last time I heard. The prince seems to think that any form of major attack will come from there. Then again I can't see why, not now that we have a suitable defence for those damn crystal things."

"It would be safer if everyone came here to Ascalon, instead of staying in places like Sardelac and Piken, why would the soldiers send you to another post anyway?" Carrie asked.

"Next to the soldier I'm probably one of the strongest they have, the soldiers were ambushed by a bunch of Grawl and left severely injured, so I'm basically holding off any invasions against the place on my own." Seregei replied.

"This proves my point, I can get my father to speak to Rurik about having the civilians escorted to Ascalon."

"I believe it is a good idea." Blaze interjected. "But we have more than Charr to worry about, the Grawl, Devourers and Boulder Elementals all have territory surrounding the smaller outposts."

"What's worse are that devourers live underground, it wont be easy to spot them." The young Necromancer pointed out.

"You can have reinforcements though. Have you learnt how to summon a Flesh Golem yet?" She asked.

"Yes, but for that I would need a large corpse, the Charr aren't big enough in size for me to summon one." He sighed as they headed for a place to sit down in the city. "Ascalon is crowded, there is no way we can bring everyone else."

"We don't have a choice here, there is more room leading into the back of the Northern Wall I'm sure we could bring at least the people living in Sardelac, Piken and other places." Carrie was getting frustrated.

"Carrie, I'm telling you, there is no way. You have had your post here for the last two years you haven't seen the other outposts and how they are filled to the brim." Seregei paused for a moment his eyes looking upward. "How come you haven't been to any other places?"

"Soldiers are the only ones meant to enter other places, it was in Rurik's orders in order to keep count and track of the civilians."

"We were next to the soldiers as our bravery was established 2 years ago. We are permitted to go in."

Carrie looked down and Blaze noticed she looked troubled about something. "Carrie what is it?"

"Bonfaaz" She paused.

"The Charr Chief?" Blaze asked, puzzled.

"My father's reputation, I'm guessing you know about that?" She continued.

"The Great Charr Slayer?" Seregei answered. He met Blaze's eyes then looked back at her, waiting for her to go on.

"I overheard a patrol once, I heard the words 'Charr Slayer' and 'Offspring' they are very scared of my father, so I'm what they need to get back at him is my guess, if I'm seen walking into an outpost more than likely they will attack or get reinforcements, I cannot and will not risk the lives of others." Carrie looked up at both of them, calm and collected, she didn't seem fazed by this much.

The three of them walked over to what looked like the quietest spot of the entire city. They sat down, each of them looking at one an other.

"I'm guessing no one else knows of this then?" Blaze asked Carrie, looking concerned.

"No, for all I know I could be very wrong as I only heard parts of the conversation. It could be something different."

"Alright, that's fair enough, we both know the last thing you would want to do is put lives at risk after all we have fought for the last two years to keep people alive." Blaze reached across putting a comforting hand over hers.

"We really should talk to your father about the situation with Sardelac and other places." Seregei cut across the little silence.

"You can..." Carrie sighed deeply resting her forehead in her hand. "...I'd rather not speak to him right now."

The necromancer looked puzzled and looked at Blaze for an answer. Blaze shook his head as a warning not to ask. He noticed Carrie was still annoyed at Isaac and she wouldn't cool down for a little while, speaking to him would probably just make things worse.

"Blaze, shall we speak to Isaac?" Seregei said standing up.

"You need to think of a backup for those who can't make it to Ascalon if you think we are too overcrowded Seregei." Carrie cut in before Blaze could reply. "He won't accept the idea unless there is some form of backup."

"Well what would you suggest? He is your father you know what ideas he would agree with." He replied quickly with a hint of impatience.

Both Elementalists eyes were on him with a glare, he gasped realising he had been very tactless with his last remark and lowered his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

Carrie's eyes softened toward him then she looked back toward the ground. "My idea is simple; Nolani Academy is the biggest place next to the city correct?" She looked back up at her fellow Elementalist. He nodded at her. "Send all those in the outposts nearest to Nolani there; there is enough room there right?" She continued.

"More than enough." He replied.

"Let's see, an outpost near Nolani is the Courthouse. Other places may be closer to the city, but it would be easier to equalise our forces if we travelled first to this outpost and then regrouped at the Academy."

"I think that would work, depends if Rurik would agree though."

Seregei still had doubts, he wasn't sure whether to address them, he didn't really want to face the glares again, but he would rather that than make a mistake in this idea which could potentially put lives at stake. "These defences are quite far apart, if one of them gets attacked then the backup forces would be to far apart to reach in time."

"Then let's hope the Charr do not get wind of our plan." Carrie replied. "However, the Hydra are near the Academy, it would more than likely be Ascalon to get attacked but the Charr have exhausted their forces trying to breach the city, if they don't know that our forces have weakened then we should be safe for the time being."

Seregei stood up and started to pace. "It is all a matter of chance, do you know how much is at stake if this goes wrong?"

"That will be for the prince to decide then, won't it?" Carrie replied, simply.

Blaze got to his feet as well, leaving Carrie sitting down on the muddy ground on her own. "How much do you think it will take to bribe the guard to let us onto the wall?"

Carrie looked up, puzzled. Seregei however let out a harsh bark like laugh. "That stingy piece of...well... I would say about a hundred gold pieces would get us through that fancy looking gate."

It was Carries turn to laugh this time. "Yeah...and we are all just made of money aren't we? What would you want to get onto the wall for anyway?"

The two males rolled their eyes. Blaze answered her question. "Kaska of course."

A look of understanding crossed her eyes. She got to her feet as well, and started walking with them in the direction of the wall. "But still, what about the money? This isn't the time to go checking down the back of your chairs..."

Seregei the produced a small money bag from his inside jacket pocket. "I would say I have about seventy five in here. What have you got blaze?"

"Well...enough to make it up to a hundred." A smile crossed his face.

-

"You believe they are here then?" The tall woman with red hair pointed to a point on a map which was a good four miles away from their current location on the wall.

"Warmaster Tydus seems to think that this would be the best strategic location for the Charr to amass their forces for a decent assault against the wall." A soldier replied.

Kaska looked up at the man, glaring at him. "Well you can go and tell him that I do not agree with his logic. The Charr would be completely exposed to the west and the north, making them easy to spot in this location, however..." She paused for a moment, scanning the map, "...this location here..." She pointed to a spot some two miles to the east of the original location, "...would be the best spot to build up your forces unnoticed."

She rolled up the map and gave it to the soldier. "What are you..."

"I want you..." Kaska said, cutting him off, "...to take this back to Tydus, and ask for his permission to lead a small group into the north to investigate the area that I pointed out. The excursion should not take more that three hours." The soldier did not move. "Well what are you waiting for!?" Kaska shouted at him. Without any more hesitation the man quickly turned on his heels and walked briskly towards the huge gate that lead back into the city.

Kaska sighed and looked down at the table that the map had been spread across.

"You know..." A voice cried from some twenty feet away, Kaska looked up, "...there wasn't really any need to be quite so hard on the boy."

"Seregei!" Kaska shouted. "Eavesdropping on a conversation with my inferiors?" She walked over to him briskly and clapped her hand strongly around his. "How long has it been old friend? Two, maybe three years?"

"Two." Came another voice. Blaze and Carrie were now walking over towards her as well.

"Well well well...the whole crew are back together again." Kaska remarked, sounding a little sarcastic, yet pleased at the same time.

"And..." Carrie started, a grin crossing her face, "...since when did you have to wait for orders? You wanted a small group to go to the north? I think four of us should be enough, don't you?"

"Ha!" Kaska let out a high pitched burst of laughter, making her seem a little mad. "The four of us moving out towards what could possibly be the biggest Charr force we have seen in the last decade... sounds like fun to me." She looked over at the three of them. The fact that they were back did not seem to have registered with her entirely, it was as though she was expecting them to turn out to be a hallucination.

"How did you get past the guard?"

"Fifty gold pieces..." Blaze replied, "...obviously the war has made him a little less stingy that I remember him to be."

She looked at them all. Without any hesitation, she leant down and picked up the two swords that she was so fond of. Walked over towards the stairs that would lead them down to the northern side of the wall, turned to look at them and said. "Well then what are you waiting for? Its an hours journey to the possible Charr camp, we better get a move on..."

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Authors Notes: Con-crit always appreciated, reviews even more so =). Next chapter will be uploaded soon. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

R&A&M


	10. Investigation of Curiosity

Wow, it has been a while eh guys? We are so sorry! We have all been very busy over tha last months, what with some of us at university and some of us working. Things are about to change though, summer is here and the time to finish this story is upon us, so enjoy our latest addition chapter 10!

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**Chapter 10 – Investigation of Curiosity **

"A map of the area has been given to Kaska. Everything is fine at the wall so far, now it is only a matter of time until..." The man suddenly broke off. He looked like a very battle worn soldier; he was wearing red leather armour, brown slacks and boots. He had an eye patch over his left eye and had a small knife attached to his right leg in case he was unarmed. The man also had a bow and quiver on his back as precaution in case Charr were to attack without warning.

"Let's hope that nothing happens yet, we need to get the civilians out of Ascalon and to Kryta." Said Prince Rurik, pacing back and forth.

"We still have time to take out the Charr that are massing to the west of the wall!" The man said.

"Tydus we can't risk leaving the city unprotected…" Rurik began, but was cut off by the arrival of another soldier.

"Warmaster Tydus." The soldier called, he then bowed to both of the men.

"What is it?" Tydus said in annoyance.

The soldier handed him back the map that he had given to Kaska to look at. Tydus's eyes widened.

"What is the meaning of this?" He said loudly.

"Zurik wanted me to give you this and a message…" The soldier began, but was hesitant to continue.

Prince Rurik noticed this. "Please continue." He prompted.

The soldier looked at the Prince and then back at Tydus. The soldier took a deep breath and continued with the message.

"Zurik wanted me to ask you for permission to take a small group to go and investigate north of the wall, to scout for the Charr…"

"And she has it, a very good idea of hers for once." Warmaster Tydus thought.

"You may leave." Rurik said, pleasantly.

The soldier remained where he was. Tydus Looked, at him, confused and annoyed.

"You may leave." Tydus said, his voice full of authority.

The soldier shifted from side to side but still did not move.

"What is wrong?" Asked Prince Rurik.

The soldier turned to his Prince. "Sire, she wants to take the small group to a different location… not the one that has been pin pointed on the map."

"What!" Tydus shouted.

"Where is Kaska Zurik now?" Asked Rurik, placing a hand on Tydus' shoulder to try and calm him down.

"She is on the wall." The soldier replied quickly.

"Then let us go to her and find out why she wants to send the party to a different area." Said the Prince in a calm voice.

The soldier nodded and led the way to the wall.

"So Kaska…where have you been for the last two years." Asked Carrie.

They were all positioned just outside the north wall. Walking and talking as they searched the area for…what…they did not know.

"Oh you know… here, there and everywhere." Kaska laughed.

Kaska was preoccupied with her current scouting mission, and of course, the laughable thought of outwitting Tydus' war strategy.

"A bit more specific if you please?" Blaze argued for everyone else.

"Fine! I was stationed at the wall for two years…nothing glamorous like you guys." Kaska replied in irritation, her eyes flashing.

"Easy Kaska no need to bite Blazes head off." Laughed Seregei.

Kaska waved an apologetic hand.

"So this new location… What makes you so sure about it?" Carrie asked, intrigued.

"Call it a hunch." Kaska said, simply.

They said no more on the subject after that. Blaze was pacing, he was thinking about how evasive Kaska had sounded when they asked her about her post for the past two years. He did not think she was being entirely truthful. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he walked right into Kaska.

"Sorry." He said quickly.

"It's fine Blaze." She replied, carelessly. She was staring at the floor, looking at something the others obviously couldn't see.

"What is it Kaska?" Carrie asked as she walked up to her and Blaze with Seregei right behind her.

Kaska kneeled down to take a closer look at the ground.

"These are Charr tracks." She spoke without addressing anyone.

"What?" Blaze, Seregei and Carrie exclaimed at the same time.

They all looked at the ground around Kaska and saw a print in the dead earth, but they couldn't recognize it.

"How do you know Kaska?" Asked Seregei.

"I have been on the wall for two years, I recognise a Charr track thank you very much!" She sounded irritable.

"Ok then, where are they heading, which direction." Carrie said.

She considered the tracks. "I would say north west…strange… they look fresh, less than a day old…"

Before anyone could reply, she had got to her feet and started striding away from them. The others, knowing Kaska, followed her.

"Where is Kaska Zurik!" Warmaster Tydus screamed at the soldier that lead them to the wall and the table where Kaska had previous been looking at the map.

"I…I…I don't know…she was here when I left." The soldier stuttered.

"Well she isn't here now is she!" Tydus shouted so loudly the soldier winced.

"No sir, sorry sir." The soldier replied in an undertone.

"When I find that girl…" Tydus began, but was cut off by the arrival of another soldier.

"Warmaster Tydus, Prince Rurik. I heard that you were looking for Kaska Zurik, but she has already left on a scouting trip with three other people." The soldier announced to everyone.

There was a shocked silence.

"Why did you let her leave the wall without permission from me or Warmaster Tydus?" Asked the Prince calmly.

The soldier looked puzzled. "That can't be right sire, she said that she had permission to leave the wall and go scouting the north of here for any Charr."

"Who supposedly gave her permission to do this, soldier?" The princes voice was still calm.

"She said that she had her permission given to her by Warmaster Tydus…" The soldier began.

"I told her no such thing! When did she leave?" He sounded furious.

"About one hour ago, sir."

Prince Rurik looked at the seething Tydus who was trying to control his rage and failing at it badly.

"We will wait here until she returns and listen to what she has to report from this scouting mission." Prince Rurik announced.

"But sire…" Warmaster Tydus began.

"She will then be punished for disobeying an order…will that satisfy you Tydus?" Prince Rurik asked in a rough and commanding voice that quite clearly ended the matter.

"No sire." Replied Tydus in defeat.

"Very well, prepare for her arrival and come find me when she returns so that I may speak with her about this in private." Price Rurik ordered.

"Yes my Prince." Both of the soldiers replied and hurried to get other soldiers.

"Hmm…this is really interesting." Said a ranger that had heard the shouting.

_Maybe Bonfaaz will find this bit of information interesting enough for a bonus._ The ranger thought as he began running from the exit towards the north west.

"Come on guys hurry up." Kaska yelled over her shoulder at Blaze, Carrie and Seregei who were falling behind.

"You act as though there is an immediate invasion threat." Said a mocking Seregei.

"Don't mock those kinds of things Seregei; luck has a way of leaving at the moment you want to remain hidden to the enemy." Carrie replied in a serious tone.

"Again… aren't you a little ray of sunshine." Seregei retorted back at Carrie.

"Stop! Do you guys hear that?" Blaze said coming to a halt and listening intently. It sounded like snarling, yet much too low in pitch to be charr.

"It came from over there." Blaze pointed straight ahead of them.

"Perfect…" Kaska laughed so sinisterly, it made the hairs on Blaze's neck stand up.

All of them ran in the direction of the noise. They got so close to the source it was almost deafening. They saw a terrible battle taking place between Grawls and Gargoyles about 50 feet away, most were in a large ford.

Carrie was watching and thought that it would be faster and safer if she took the entire group in the water out, just as her eyes were turning a small tint of yellow Kaska came over and grabbed onto Carrie, making her lose concentration.

"Kaska what are you doing?" Carrie asked in a strangled whisper.

"There is no point in using energy on those guys." Kaska replied calmly still watching the battle that was before them with a glint in her eye.

"Why?" Carrie asked still angry with Kaska for interrupting her.

"Because these guys are fighting each other for this territory." Kaska responded as if it was common knowledge. "These guys are constantly warring against each other, I've seen too much of it over the past two years, just leave them too it for now…"

"Should we move on or wait until they have killed each other to move on." Blaze asked.

"I say we wait and see…" Kaska replied.

Blaze suddenly saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He turned suddenly to locate whatever it was.

"What is it Blaze?" Seregei asked as he sat on the ground to watch the fight that was in front of them, keeping his weapon ready just in case it did call for them to step in.

"I don't know…might have been my imagination." Blaze responded.

_That was close._ The ranger thought as Blaze turned his back on where the ranger had been only moments before.

The ranger was thankful that Kaska had said that they would wait which gave the ranger more time to get around them.

The ranger started slinking his way around the ford and the battle, then started running in the direction on the Charr camp.

"How many now?" Bonfaaz asked Garfaaz in a growl.

"We have 1000 strong on the way." Bloodfang replied.

"Good…those humans will fall soon and then we can feast like kings." Bonfaaz laughed.

"Sir." Garfaaz looked into the distance.

"What?" Bonfaaz roared.

"The informant." He pointed into the distance.

"Let's hear what he has to say, he might have something important on the humans that will help us."

They watched him run towards them, panting.

"Bonfaaz I have news that will make you the happiest Charr in the world." The ranger said proudly.

"Oh really… and what would that be." Bonfaaz asked with a hint of interest in his voice.

"That there is a small group that is investigating the where about of all your Charr gathering and they are almost here."

"And why would this bit of information thrill me into keeping you alive?" Asked Bonfaaz, laughing.

"Because of the party leader…"

"And who might this be?"

"The very same human that killed your captain, two years ago." The ranger said smugly.

There was a roar of rage from the surrounding Charr.

"What is that humans name, so I know the name of whom I am about to kill." Bonfaaz roared in anger at the ranger.

"Kaska Zurik." The ranger replied calmly.

"HAHAHAHA…prepare to move out, I want that humans head!" Bonfaaz ordered.

"Where is she now?" Bonfaaz asked with vengeance and bloodshed on his mind.

"She is right now watching a fight for territory between the Grawl and Gargoyles at the river bed not too far from here."

"Garfaaz, lead the way, I want to smell the stench of fear on her pathetic human skin before we slaughter her."

"Yes sir."

The fight for territory had turned into a bloodbath, which didn't faze any of them even when they saw the little water left in the river turn red. They had just watched a Gargoyle slice off a Grawl's head with its own sharp finger nails. Both sides had lost numbers and most of the blood that the river had obtained came from them.

"I'm getting bored." Kaska said to no-one in particular.

Carrie got to her feet. Kaska, thinking that she was about to run in and join the fight, got up too. However when she made a move, blaze grabbed her. She looked at him, angry and confused.

A bolt of brilliantly white lightning struck the middle of the ford, frying all that were in it.

"You know you could have told me instead of letting me run and almost kill myself." Kaska replied with anger in her voice towards Carrie as Blaze set her on the ground.

"Not my fault that you rush into things." Carrie said calmly.

Before Kaska had the chance to walk up to Carrie the leftovers from the battle were heading their way. "Let's just finish this and get going before I do something that I might regret."

There were so few left that the battle was hardly taxing. Kaska took out two gargoyles with ease, slicing ones head off and impaling the other through the heart. The elementalists worked their sorcery on the surrounding rocks, stabbing the enemy with razor sharp dagger like stones.

Seregei had just performed a rather nasty curse on a grawl, making its flesh rot. Kaska was distracted, watching the progress of the curse, and paid for her lack of attention to the battle with a warhammer straight to the back of the head.

"Argh!" She fell forwards, feeling the gentle trickle of blood down her neck.

"Kaska!" Seregei yelled.

Blaze in one quick motion set the Grawl on fire while Carrie finished it off with an ice spear to the heart.

"Kaska are you alright!" Seregei shouted.

"Yes…! Geez you're giving me a headache…" Kaska complained.

"Thank Grenth." Seregei said with a sigh.

"Don't you mean thank Dwayna?" Blaze asked with a smile.

"Let's just get moving…Blaze, can you see what you can do with this?" She gestured at her head.

Blaze came over and looked at the wound. He touched it lightly with one finger, and muttered something Kaska did not understand. She felt sudden warmth on the back of her head, then a sudden cold, then nothing. The spell had done its job.

"How is resurrecting without the signet ring coming along, can you do it yet?" Kaska asked, feeling the back of her head gingerly.

"Yes I can, but it takes a lot of energy to do so for beginners like me." Blaze said in a matter of fact tone.

"Good to know." Was all that Kaska said.

Blaze then went to heal her arm, which had a deep gash on it, when Kaska made a sudden movement. "What is it Kaska?"

They all looked to the distant hills. Even from this far, there was no mistaking the terrible outline of Bonfaaz Burntfur.

"How did he find us?" Carrie yelled with fear on her voice, which she was trying to console.

"I don't know." Was the reply by both Blaze and Seregei.

Kaska was walking backwards away from the Charr, her swords still out, gripped very tightly.

An army…A huge army of at least two thousand were gathered on the hills, and a sizeable amount of them had broken away, charging straight for them.

"Run!" Kaska roared and started running as fast as she could back towards the wall. Seregei followed.

"Carrie, come on." Blaze yelled as he grabbed onto her and started to run with her, but she managed to freeze the water with a few of the Charr in it before her eye contact was pulled away.

"Just run." Blaze screamed at her.

Blaze and Carrie managed to catch up with Kaska and Seregei by having the wind on their side. But every time they looked over their shoulders the Charr seemed to be gaining. For what seemed like an hour they ran and even with the help of the wind the Charr had managed to stay with them. Blaze could almost feel the Charr's rotten breathe on his neck.

"We are almost there." Seregei shouted over his shoulder. Blaze looked forward and saw the bridge that lead to the front of the wall.

Blaze let a smile come to his face, but it was quickly wiped off as a five Charr appeared out of nowhere and almost sliced Kaska's head off. Kaska, with unnatural reflex's, slid under the Charr's axe on her knees.

Blaze, still running, held out his hand and cried. "Terra Claustrum!"

The earth around the Charr's feet suddenly engulfed their legs in what must have been a horrible grip. They couldn't move an inch. Blaze felt exhausted from the effort of the spell, yet kept running.

They had made it across the bridge. Kaska however, was only half way across. The pursuing Charr were a fair distance behind now.

Kaska then carved a line straight across the middle of the bridge, walked a few paces away from it, and started to carve what was unmistakeably a signet.

"Oh no…" Seregei moaned, "…Don't be a fool, there's no time!"

"Then get here and help me you idiot" She shouted back.

Seregei, resigned to the worst, ran towards her, took her other sword, and helped her carve the signet, for he knew what it was. They finished, just as the Charr force reached the bridge. Kaska sliced her palm and slammed it to the centre of the signet, which turned crimson.

In a brilliant haze of red light, the bridge beyond the line began to crumble.

"Kaska you idiot..." Seregei angrily said as he grabbed Kaska, threw her on his back and started running.

"Bought us time didn't it?"

"Yes…but not long enough." Seregei said with wide eyes as he saw what was behind him.

What must have been a Charr earth user had started to roughly rebuild the bridge.

"Speed it up Blaze." Seregei shouted, and he felt wind beneath his feet propel him forward.

The wall was coming into sight. The Charr seemed to have finished rebuilding the bridge. It had not bought them as much time as they thought. They reached the wall, ran straight past some guards that ordered them to halt, and hurried to find Calhaan.

They reached him, just as the Charr came into view. "What is this!" He shouted, surveying the army.

"No time to explain, I must speak with the prince!" Kaska said as Seregei put her down.

Calhaan opened his mouth to reply as an arrow barely missed him. It embedded itself in the wall behind them.

"Fall back to the city!" He shouted, not delaying a second longer, "We are outnumbered, fall back, fall back!"

They ran through the great stone gate of the wall, which would surely slow the Charr down. As the last soldier came through, Blaze threw the huge lever to close the gate.

"What happened?" Someone shouted. It was Prince Rurik. He had evidently been watching the scene unfold from the top of the wall.

"My Prince…the Charr have breached the wall we need to leave before they break through the door." Captain Calhaan reported.

"That will take them some time. The door is impervious to direct earth manipulation, it will take a lot of force to get through…" The Prince said. "We fall back to Fort Ranik…Kaska!" She looked up, "You will tell me everything once there."

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Starting to look like a novelisation? Can't blame you for thinking this, it is based on prophecies, but has MUCH more story depth to it than the game itself (we aren't going to do the traditional novelising the missions all the way through, where would be the fun in that?" Review please! and concrit appreciated.

R,A and M.


	11. Retaking The Wall

Hey guys, not too long on the update this time =). Hope you enjoy chapter 11...

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Chapter 11- Retaking the Wall**

"Insubordinate and reckless!" Tydus exclaimed. "I would never have believed it of any of my other soldiers, you seem to think yourself a cut above the rest, Zurik!"

"There is no point arguing now." Rurik interjected. "How many Kaska? We need to know what we are dealing with."

"Two thousand strong at least sire." Kaska leant on the table in front of her, examining the map placed upon it.

They were in a dimly lit room just off of the main courtyard of the fort. Kaska, Tydus and Rurik were in the centre of the room, gathered around a large rectangular table with a large map spread across it. Carrie, Blaze and Seregei, were standing a few feet behind Kaska.

"I dare say this will be difficult." Rurik replied, making Kaska grin. "If I know the Charr however, they will not station that many at the wall itself. Two hundred at the very most, few enough to make recapturing the wall a small ops mission."

"Send us." Seregei suggested, moving forward to stand next to Kaska. "The four of us on a stealth mission, the Charr would never expect such a small force."

"Nor would a small group succeed," Tydus laughed, "this is folly!"

"We would succeed!" Blaze moved forward to stand on Kaska's other side, "If we can get near enough to the wall to cast some powerful magicks we can weaken them enough to wipe them out with a larger force."

"Precisely!" Piped in Carrie, moving to stand next to Blaze and looking over the map, "if we go in here…" She pointed to a small crevice on the map, "they would never expect a large force through there, we can get onto the wall and send a signal flare when it is time for a larger force which will be waiting…" She pointed to another point on the map about a hundred feet south of the wall, "there. They move in, we finish the Charr and head back to the city for ale." Seregei snorted.

"And how…" Tydus began, "…do you plan on getting onto the wall in the first place?"

"I suggest a recon trip and then we can decide…" The prince began, but Kaska cut him off.

"There is no time for that, that gate isn't going to last forever you know." She looked at the points on the map that Carrie had suggested. "It just might work…"

The prince considered the four of them. He looked at them, his brown eyes taking in every aspect of each being, sizing them up. "O.K."

Tydus looked at him. "You can't be serious my liege?"

"Every second we stand here arguing the battle plan is a second closer to them getting through the wall, and I will die defending my city before I see the Charr destroy it." His voice was full of a resolve none of them had ever heard before.

"So we move immediately?" Seregei asked.

"You four can move immediately, I can get a force ready in twenty minutes. Don't attack until an hour after you have left, by that time my soldiers will be in place." He turned round and walked towards the huge doors towards the courtyard. "Why aren't you moving then?"

The four of them moved quickly towards the door. Tydus stopped Kaska. "Here." He placed something in her hand, "Use it well."

She looked down at what he had given her and saw that it was another signet ring. Kaska put it on, and then followed the other three out of the door.

Darkness had fallen, which would help them a great deal on their mission. Seregei was leading the way towards the northern exit of the fort. "Nice night for it, don't you think?" They all chuckled slightly.

"Any bright idea's on how to get onto the wall?" Blaze asked. They reached the northern doors and passed through them.

"Wait until we get there, it's the best we can do." Kaska replied, examining the signet ring that Tydus had given her. "Blaze, could you give me a bit of light?"

He walked next to her, conjured a small flame in his right hand, and held it next to Kaska.

She held the ring into the light and saw that there was an inscription round the outside of it. 'Animatus Corpus'. "Hmmm…" She said, thinking how this could possibly help them.

They continued to walk towards the wall. After about ten minutes, Seregei stopped, looking into the distance. The others followed suit. A few hundred feet ahead were two tiny pinpricks of light.

"Scouting party." Carrie said, standing next to Seregei. "Must be heading to the fort. We should hurry…"

They carried on ahead. The terrain was getting much more difficult to navigate, something which only Blaze seemed able to deal with swiftly. He went on ahead of the group up a particularly steep rock formation. Once he got to the top, he immediately retreated back halfway down the rocks.

"What is it, what do you see?" Kaska asked in a hushed voice. She was further up than the rest.

"The rocks go down about twenty feet, the scouts are at the bottom, they didn't see me." He replied in a whisper.

"How many?"

"Five. But they only have one torch, there has to be another party somewhere." He looked down at the other two, they had almost reached the point were Kaska and him stood.

"Do that thing you did where you trapped them in earth. Then we can go in and slaughter them!" Kaska suggested in an undertone.

"I'd rather save that, it exhausts me when I do it." Blaze replied.

Carrie then reached them at that moment, closely followed by Seregei. "Trouble?" She asked.

"Five scouts." Kaska replied before Blaze could. They all moved slowly up the formation.

Once they had reached the top, the peered over and looked down upon the Charr. They seemed to be studying a map. None of them were paying any attention to the steep rocks next to them. Kaska, Blaze, Carrie and Seregei, ducked out of sight again.

Kaska pulled one blade half out of its scabbard. "On three…" She mouthed. "One…two…" On three, they all vaulted the top of the rocks.

The Charr, taken by surprise, looked up. Three of them raised short-bows, one raised a staff, and another dropped a torch and ran back towards the wall. Kaska charged straight at them, Carrie created an aura around her making her difficult to see. She reached them, two arrows narrowly missing her. She stabbed a ranger straight in the chest. Seregei had cursed another of them, and Carrie had sent a bolt of lightning down at the third.

Blaze, who was watching the retreating Charr, took the flame from the torch which had been flung to the ground, and with the speed of a bullet, it flew straight at the Charr, striking it down.

"Shot!" Said Kaska, putting the cursed Charr out of it's misery.

"Weren't there five?" Carrie asked.

Then, without warning, Seregei fell to the floor, clutching his throat. Kaska, spotting the fifth Charr, threw one of the swords at it like a javelin. It did not deal a fatal blow, but hit it straight in its staff arms shoulder. Kaska ran forward to finish it off, whereas Carrie and Blaze, knelt in front of Seregei.

The curse was still upon him. His eyes were starting to roll upwards into his head.

"Do something!" Carrie shouted at Blaze.

Blaze was panicking, wracking his brains for a spell that would remove the curse. He put his hand onto Seregei's forehead, and said "Plaga Eximo!"

There was a burst of silver light, and Seregei fell forward, unconscious. "Best I could think of, he would have stayed conscious if I knew exactly what the curse was. There is no way to bring him round, we'll have to either leave him here or carry him…"

"There is no way in hell I am going to leave him here." Kaska said, approaching him.

Blaze sprung to his feet, the Charr Kaska had gone to finish off was walking up behind her, and Kaska didn't seem to have noticed. He raised his staff, but Kaska put up a hand to stop him.

"Completely harmless." She said, and Blaze noticed on her right hand a ring, glowing dark green.

Carrie got to her feet too. Both of them were staring at the Charr. After a few moment silence, Carrie spoke. "How long do you think you can do that for?"

"Indefinitely…but I'm not sure how far away it can be from me." She looked up at the Charr, an amused expression on her face.

"Can you make it talk?" Blaze asked.

"Yes." The Charr said, making both of them jump. Kaska gave an evil little chuckle at the shocked expression on both of their faces.

"This gives me an idea…" Carrie said, thoughtfully.

"Sir." A tall, armour clad Charr was walking towards Garfaaz.

"What is it?" Bloodfang asked with a small snarl. They were inside one of the many small rooms concealed within the great wall.

"Scouts report that the humans have gathered at a large fort to the south of here. Direct assault seems impossible from here, but if we attacked from the south…"

"You are getting ahead of yourself soldier." Garfaaz said, cutting him off. "How many in the fort?"

"Several hundred, maybe more."

"I see…" Bloodfang walked up to his soldier, "…no sign of an attack?"

"No sir, none, nothing." The two Charr looked each other straight in the eyes.

"It's not right, it can't be right." Garfaaz paced the room, taking a long, thin staff off of a table in the corner. "Even the humans must know that to not act is to bring about their destruction…" He resumed pacing, "…what of the other scouts?"

"They have not returned yet sir… I fear the worst…" He looked down at the floor.

"You are overestimating the meat, soldier." The door to the room flung open, and in came the very same ranger that had hours previous reported to them. "What is it?" Garfaaz growled.

"News from Bonfaaz." He said, walking in and slamming the door shut behind him. "Rin will be ready to fall by dusk tomorrow, he says to move out from here at dawn, leave a hundred soldiers behind."

Bloodfang walked over to him and looked down at his frail human form. He took in everything from the greasy brown hair to the skinny ankles. He stared at him, then leaned in very close, so they were almost nose to nose.

"I would threaten to eat you…but you don't look like much of a meal, meat…" The other Charr laughed his approval, "…run along now, and tell Bonfaaz that we will set out at dawn."

"He says I am to remain here, and to send your reply by eagle." The ranger replied, coolly. "Maybe he doesn't trust you as much anymore, needs meat like me to keep an eye on you."

Garfaaz and the other Charr roared, but as they did so, the door opened for a second time, and in came a Shaman, his robes of dark blue dragging on the floor behind him.

"Rasco…" Garfaaz began, a smile crossing his face, revealing all his pointed teeth, "…come to watch me teach this piece of meat some manners?"

"Well…" Rasco replied, in a deep, calming voice, "…that would be a novelty I find hard to resist usually, but I have very interesting news for you, Garfaaz." He walked over and pushed the ranger out of his way. "What is that thing doing here anyway?"

"Trying my patience is what he is doing!" Garfaaz shot the ranger an evil look.

"Typical meat sack…what is he called anyway?" Rasco asked, sounding only mildly interested.

"I don't actually know." Was the reply, "Unimportant anyway. What was it you had to tell me, Rasco?"

"Ah yes…" He began, in mock thought, "…After we sent the scouts back out on patrol they returned to us very quickly. They have captured and bound four humans, Kaska Zuric being one of them."

The three Charr then let out a roar of laughter. "What were they doing? Trying to retake the wall? Hah! This is brilliant, bring them in here Rasco, we shall see if they are meal worthy…"

The Charr exited the room.

"Don't you think it best I leave?" The ranger asked.

"We are going to slaughter them, I don't think it makes a difference." The ranger stayed where he was, obviously he wanted to witness what was going to happen.

Several tense minutes passed, after which, Rasco re-entered the room, followed by two Charr soldiers, four humans, one of which was unconscious and being carried by another soldier, a Charr necromancer, a couple of Charr flame wielders, and another Shaman.

The four humans were made to stand against the back wall, the unconscious one had to be held up by magic.

"What a crew…" Garfaaz began, "…so who do we have here then…? Kaska Zurik, Bonfaaz will want to kill you in person…" He walked over to her as he said this.

He then proceeded to the man standing next to her. "And you are?" The man didn't answer. Garfaaz punched him square in the face with one enormous fist. "Speak when spoken to meat!"

"Blaze…" He replied, blood slowly trickling out of both his nostrils.

"Well 'Blaze'. Your little elementalist tricks wont work here, all flames in this room have been made un-enchantable, as has the stone." He laughed.

Garfaaz then moved on to the girl next to him. "And you, meat sack?" He snarled.

"Carrie Senyah." She replied, not wanting the same treatment as Blaze.

"At least someone knows their place!" Rasco taunted, causing the Charr present to laugh.

Garfaaz walked towards the unconscious figure. "And this one? Can't someone wake him up?"

"We tried." Said the necromancer, "nothing would work sir."

Garfaaz growled his annoyance, and did not wait for someone to tell him the mans name. He walked back over to Kaska, stopping right in front of her, his face inches from hers. "So what were you doing out in the wilderness then meat?"

"Well…" Kaska began, apparently struggling to try and get free of the bonds which were tying her hands behind her back, "…I'm not really sure that's any of your business…"

This earned her a hard punch in the stomach, making her cough. The ranger laughed, and Kaska looked over at him. "Is that…Carter?"

Blaze looked over at him too, and it looked like he was repressing an urge to laugh. "It is!" He exclaimed, and to all the Charr's complete surprise, a grin spread across his face.

Carrie also looked at him. "Oh yeah, it's Reeves!" She too, had a huge grin on her face, only unlike Blaze, hers wasn't bloodstained.

"Carter Reeves?" Bloodfang said, looking at him, looking completely confused.

"Stupid name if you ask me." Kaska said, rolling her eyes.

"Me too, what idiot would name their child something like that?" Blaze said, agreeing.

Carrie couldn't seem to be able to control herself, she burst out laughing, and it was difficult to make out what she said next. " 'Hello, my name is Carter Reeves, and I'm a spy! Aren't I amazing!'" She drew the last word out a fair amount.

"I changed my name to Carter Reeves actually…" He said, still looking smug, but not quite as much so as usual.

Blaze couldn't help it, he laughed to. "What idiot would change their name to something as stupid as that!"

Kaska seemed to be the only one able to contain herself. At that precise moment, Seregei regained consciousness. He looked around the room, taking in the situation. He looked as though he wanted to ask if he was still asleep, but instead said. "Erm… Carrie? Blaze?"

Carrie and Blaze however, were still laughing so hard they couldn't speak. Kaska spoke up. "Everything's under control Seregei."

"Why are they…" He nodded towards Carrie and Blaze, who were almost doubled up with laughter.

Carrie, who was nearest to Seregei, nodded in the direction of Carter. The corners of Seregei's mouth twitched.

It was Bloodfang's turn to laugh now however. "Everything is under control! Hah!" He walked over to Kaska and grabbed her by the throat, to his surprise, she smiled.

"I'm about to show you how to kill Charr with my hands tied behind my back, literally!" She smiled widely now.

Garfaaz looked down at her hands, and saw a strange green ring, which was glowing. He pulled it off her finger roughly and then, quite suddenly, the Charr nearest him fell to the ground.

He turned round and walked over to the Charr, as did all the others except Rasco. He knelt down next to him.

"…He is dead…" He told the surrounding crowd.

Then, quite suddenly, the Charr's corpse exploded with the force of a small bomb. Garfaaz got the full blast of it, he was slammed against the wall by the force of the explosion and fell to the floor. Clearly dead.

All of the other Charr were roaring in pain, Kaska knelt to the ground in all the confusion and snatched up the ring which had fallen from Garfaaz's hand.

One of the lesser injured Charr had made a violent charge towards Blaze, who dodged, then noticed a small fire that had started from the explosion. He sent it right at the Charr just as he had done hours before, and it crumpled.

"Animatus Corpus!" Kaska shouted. There was a flash of green light, and Gafaaz Bloodfang got slowly to his feet.

He walked straight over to Kaska and untied her. Then ran at Rasco and slammed him against the wall to prevent him escaping. In all the confusion, Carter Reeves had disappeared.

Once they were all untied, Carrie walked over to Rasco. "We would appreciate our weapons back, please." She said in mock politeness.

"In a chamber two doors down from here…" He grunted.

Carrie then went over to the door, opened it the tiniest bit, then waited. Her eyes turned a familiar shade of yellow, but nothing appeared to happen. "Time to do our thing guys."

They ran out. The wall was surprisingly under-guarded. Kaska looked up at the sky to see a large letter 'S' in what must have been lightning. She then continued to the door Rasco had stated.

Armed and ready, they made their way back along the wall. Most of the soldiers were posted out the front, they had seen them when they were brought in.

Kaska turned to Blaze. "Do your thing then."

He smiled. "Terra Claustrum Maxim!"

They all felt the earth shake. The Charr defending the south of the wall were all encased in that earthly prison. Blaze fell to the floor, unconscious from the effort the spell had cost.

With all the Charr unable to move, the battle which followed was more of a slaughter than a battle. Carrie, Seregei and Kaska took out the remaining Charr on the wall with surprisingly little effort, and minutes later, Prince Rurik was ascending the stairs to the wall.

Something was wrong however. Blaze, who was still unconscious, seemed to have very shallow breathing. "He needs to be taken to sister Alesia…" Carrie said.

Kaska walked over to the prince. "Sir, we heard them on the way in, Bonfaaz means to attack Rin tomorrow at dusk, we must do something!"

The Prince considered her. "Do we have anymore intelligence on their strategy and their army?"

"Better…" Kaska said, smiling. With that, Bloodfang walked out from the chamber they had been in, Rasco held in an iron grip. "…I'm sure this one knows plenty…"

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So, let us know what you think! Anything you think we could improve on? (Besides upload intervals hehe). next chapter will be uploaded soon, review please =).

R&A&M


	12. The Battle of Rin

Getting a bit more frequent with our updates now (it is difficult to juggle several stories at once) but hey excuses are no good, enjoy the chapter!

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**Chapter 12- The Battle of Rin**

The planning for the battle against the Charr went on well into the night. They had acquired information about their battle-plan extremely swiftly. In fact, if they didn't know better, Rurik and Tydus would have thought that Rasco wanted to give them the information, as if he were against his comrades.

This of course, did lead to some doubt. Kaska in particular was the first one to point out that everything Rasco said could have been lies, and would therefore benefit the Charr more than them. Carrie however, did not think that this was the case. She had a knack for being able to tell when people, or beasts in this case, were lying. She thought that he was telling the truth, to the great annoyance of Kaska.

Everyone was now in Rin however. There was no more time to be wasted interrogating a Charr at the northern wall. If what he said were true, the battle for the capital would commence at dusk that very day, and it was already well past dawn.

The city itself was now completely empty except for the large army which had been gathered at its northern wall, which was where they were going to mount the defence against the Charr. Kaska and Seregei could be found pacing the streets of Rin. It was as if they were walking in a ghost town.

"The Charr..." Kaska said to Seregei, "...what do you make of him?"

Seregei did not answer immediately. He walked a few more paces forward, and then turned his face towards her. "He is difficult to read...but the impression I get is that he was being outcast from his own kind. Maybe he was waiting for the opportunity to get his revenge. After all, why didn't he try to heal any of his companions while we were in that room?"

Kaska had an answer ready for this however. "Well, he must have known that they were overmatched and decided to surrender gracefully."

"Why not try to run for reinforcements?" Seregei retorted.

She could not answer this one quite as easily. They continued to walk, Kaska still pondering her answer, but instead of coming to a reasonable conclusion, another question formed in her mind. "Why didn't Reeves get reinforcements?"

"Hah!" Seregei let out a bark of laughter. "Perhaps he was too busy focusing on getting back to his precious boss. You know what he is like." He looked into the distance as though reminiscing about their academy days. "Wouldn't know which way to pull a bowstring if it wasn't put in his hands the right way round...idiot..."

To no-ones great surprise, Rurik had not taken the news that Carter Reeves had turned spy very seriously. In fact, Seregei could have sworn he almost looked happy about this. Then again, he wasn't really much of an asset to either side.

"Tydus gave me permission to execute him on sight." Kaska said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I've been thinking about how I am going to do it...a slow curse?" She smiled at the thought.

"Just kill the idiot quickly, he isn't worth our time." Both of them stopped walking. They had come to the foot of the high wall which surrounded Rin.

They looked up, craning their necks. A large force of rangers had been stationed along the battlements as a line of defence just in case the Charr mounted their attack early. As far as the friends knew, most of the defending army were inside the wall, preparing for battle.

As far as anyone could tell, Burntfur had no idea that they knew of the plans to attack the city. People did speculate however, that it was more than likely that Reeves had returned to him with news of the retaking of the wall, and the fact that neither Garfaaz nor any of the Charr stationed there had returned, meant that it was quite possible that he did know.

"Any news on Blaze?" Kaska asked. The last that they had heard, Blaze was still unconscious. Apparently Sister Alesia had not been able to make any progress.

"Nothing new as far as I am aware." Seregei replied. He began to walk along the wall to the stone stairs which would take them up to the battlements. Kaska followed briskly. "Worried about him?"

"Semi…" She replied, looking completely un-phased, "…I have complete faith in our dear sister…well…a lot of faith…well…some faith…"

They started to climb the steep stone steps. In truth, the wall was very similar to that of the great northern wall, so even though they had never been there before, the two of them felt that they knew their way around Rin's great wall already. As they got to the top, they were surprised to find Rurik there, staring out towards the horizon in the direction of Nolani Academy. They both gave him a small bow as they approached.

"Scouts report that the army is preparing to attack. The force is just as big as we anticipated, if not greater…" Prince Rurik frowned as he looked at them both, "…however we do have the advantage; they are going to have a difficult time trying to breach the wall."

"Doesn't change the fact that we are outnumbered four to one, does it?" Seregei pointed out, he then walked over to the battlements, staring into the horizon.

"Oh come on…" Kaska said, a smile creeping across her face as it always did at the thought of bloodshed, "…that just means that there are plenty of them for all of us to sink our teeth into."

Rurik suddenly looked very solemn. "If we survive tonight, we begin our evacuation to Kryta immediately, regardless of what my father says.

"Has the King said anything more about your evacuation suggestion, sire?" Seregei asked, curiously.

Rurik shook his head. "I doubt very much that he will…." He then muttered something which they couldn't quite hear, but which sounded suspiciously like 'foolish'. "I thought you two would be more concerned about your friend, he has regained consciousness after all."

They both looked at him surprised. "When did this happen?" Kaska sounded irritable.

"Not two hours ago." Rurik replied simply.

Seregei and Kaska bowed to the prince one more time, and then headed off down the wall. They walked for a good five minutes before reaching a door on their left. They went through. The room they had entered bore striking similarities to that of the one which they had been held 'captive' in, except this one was a lot more brightly lit, giving it a friendlier atmosphere.

There were around a dozen beds in the room, half of which were occupied by mostly unconscious people. Laying down in a bed in the far corner however was none other than Blaze. Alesia seemed to be helping him drink a purple substance of some kind. He looked disgusted as he drank it. The two of them walked over to him, and as they did so, Alesia walked away. As they got closer they noticed Carrie was kneeling down at his bedside, talking quietly to him.

"Nice nap?" Kaska sniggered. She did not kneel but stood at the foot of his bed, arms folded, and a look of maddening superiority on her face.

"Never felt better…" Blaze's voice sounded like a sort of croak, as if it were difficult to use.

Kaska raised her eyebrows at him, but Seregei spoke before she could. He sounded concerned. "What happened to you?"

Carrie replied to save Blaze the terrible effort talking seemed to cost him. "Sister Alesia described it as over exertion. The amount of energy that his final incantation cost drained him of more energy than he had, and…well…here sits the result in front of us."

Kaska rolled her eyes. "Perhaps next time you will think before you act." She pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down. "Do you think you will be ready to fight by nightfall?"

Carrie helped him gulp down a few more mouthfuls of the purple liquid. He shuddered as it went down, the sickened look reappearing on his face.

"No spell can cure this then?" Seregei inquired.

"No." Carrie replied simply. "It will take some time for him to recover, but this," She held up the vial of purple liquid, "should speed up the process considerably."

He did indeed seem to be regaining some of the colour in his skin as they looked at him, and he looked healthier than he had done when he had first collapsed. Blaze then propped himself up on his elbows, the better to look at them all. "Carrie tells me the Charr healer is co-operating." His voice sounded a little less croaky.

"At least that is what everyone thinks." Kaska looked a little annoyed, "I don't see why everyone should just believe him, he is the enemy!"

"We are better prepared for the battle then we could ever have hoped." Carrie retorted, "With his information we should be able to defend ourselves with ease."

"Should…" Kaska muttered.

The rest of their conversation was rather uneventful. Most of it was dedicated to discussing battle plans for tonight. Blaze was saying about how he would not be able to use any more incantations for a while, but silent spells should not be a problem. Kaska went into a long and detailed explanation of how she was going to kill Carter, and Seregei informed them of a new curse he had picked up. Carrie was being oddly quiet. The thought of the battle was obviously not doing her any favours. Unlike the rest of them, she did not draw comfort from discussing tactics, but preferred to prepare herself in her own mind.

"Form ranks!" Rurik was shouting at two large groups, "Form Ranks! Rangers in front, elementalists behind." He turned to another group. "Necromancers and Mesmers to the east and west towers." He turned to yet another group. "Warriors split into two groups, half up on the battlements, half down in the courtyard should the break through the gate." He turned to the final group. "Monks, I need you everywhere, divide yourselves up, and be quick about it!"

Dusk was upon them, fast turning into night. Everyone was running to get to where they needed to be. All of them were looking out onto the horizon, where they could see hundreds of tiny specs of light. The Charr were moving, and from the looks of things, they would be upon them soon.

Up on the battlements, Carrie was standing behind none other than Eva Sharpe. "Scared Senyah?" She asked her, a slight quiver in her voice. To Carrie's great surprise, she was not taunting her.

"A little." This was a dishonest answer. If she had it her way she would not be fighting at all. "But I'm confident enough."

The sound of the Charr's marching footsteps was growing louder and louder and they got closer to Rin's great wall. A raindrop fell onto Carrie's face and slid slowly down it as if it were a tear drop. "My kind of weather." She muttered. The rain would give her a distinct advantage.

They were almost upon them now. Around a hundred feet away from the wall the Charr all stopped in a rough line, looking up at them. "Just out of range…" Eva said as she loaded two arrows into her bow and took careful aim.

"No they aren't…" Carrie said with a small grin, as many more bows were being prepared with arrows all down the wall. Carrie looked to her left to see Blaze a little way down, "…go ahead and fire, get the first kill."

Eva looked at her. "It will end up about twenty feet short of the nearest one."

"You forget what I am." Carries grin broadened into a smile.

Eva took aim again and released the arrows. As she did so, Carrie raised her right hand, and immediately there was a rush of strong wind. The arrows sped faster than ever, divided apart from each other, and hit two of the frontline straight in the throat. Eva let out a small chuckle of triumph.

Rurik approached the edge of the battlements and looked out at the Charr. There was a great deafening roar from them, and they all began to charge. "I now declare Charr hunting season, open!" He shouted in a maddening rage!

There was a flurry of arrows from both sides. The elementalists on the battlements did their best to deflect them with the wind, however the Charr were equally as well prepared. The arrows flew at them with such force; several people had to be revived with signet rings and resurrection incantations already.

"Carrie!" Eva shouted, reloading her bow and ducking behind the wall for cover, "Work some of your magic on these." She loaded three arrows into the bow.

Carries eyes went a vivid blue, and the arrows became encased in an ice so thick, it would surely penetrate any armour. Eva returned to her feet, an arrow barely missing her head, and released the arrows. They took down three severe looking warriors who were all carrying…

"Ladders!" Rurik shouted, unsheathing his sword to prepare for the upcoming onslaught of steel.

The rangers did their very best to take down the Charr holding the ladders, but this proved difficult. Indeed it was only when Carrie enchanted the arrows that Eva successfully took any of them down, their armour was just so thick. The necromancers did not seem to be having much luck with curses, it only seemed to be the Mesmers, which were too few, that were having any success.

The Mesmers seemed to be using a small form of mind control which was making the Charr drop the ladders and start attacking their allies. Unfortunately, the effect did not seem to last very long. Inevitably, the first of the many ladders were starting to make contact with the battlements.

"They are impervious to wind!" Carrie shouted as she tried to knock one back off the wall with a strong gale.

The Charr were beginning to breach the wall. The warriors were already prepared for them however, they attacked with such ferocity that the beasts barely had time to attack. Many of the Charr were attacking with equal strength, Rangers were now going down so fast that the few monks who were on the wall were doing nothing but reviving.

A short way down the wall, Blaze was hastily trying to resurrect the Ranger who he had been teamed with. Hardly any ladders had made it down his end of the battlements, so he decided not to use his ring, this choice was consuming valuable time.

"Blaze!" Someone shouted. He looked up, and to his horror a Charr warrior was running at him, sword held high above his head, ready to swing. Out of nowhere however, an arrow had flown straight into the Charr's forehead. Looking round, Blaze saw Tydus, it was obviously him who had shouted.

"Eyes open." He said to him. Blaze had just finished reviving his partner.

Something extremely strange then happened, and it happened so quickly, no-one had time to react, nor take it in. A strange mark had appeared on Tydus' chest, an elegant yet terrible mark. Then in a whirl of black smoke, came an oddly thin Charr, dressed all in black, carrying a dagger in each hand. He grabbed Tydus and stabbed him straight through the mark.

The ranger raised his bow, but before he could attack the Charr, there was another whirl of black smoke. The Ranger seemed to know what was coming however, he pulled out his knife and swung at the air behind him, except it hit a large black Charr straight in the heart.

Blaze ran over to Tydus, pressed the hand bearing the signet ring to his forehead and activated it. Nothing happened. He tried again, and again nothing happened. Blaze shouted for a monk, but he knew what had happened. There would be no bringing him back now, he was sure of it.

Up on top of the west tower, Kaska and Seregei had just witnessed something exactly the same. "What the hell are those things!" Kaska shouted. She ran over to one which she had managed with difficulty to take down with the help of a Mesmer.

She put the hand bearing the ring that Tydus had given to her to the Charr's arm, and to her great horror, it melted on her finger, burning her. The gold trickled down to the stone, and evaporated. Seregei and Kaska then heard a loud crash! They looked down towards the gate, and saw that the Charr had broken through it at last. Their force however, had been considerably weakened. Amongst all the beasts however, Kaska spotted an all too familiar figure.

"I have business down there." She called to Seregei, "See you later." With that she ran as fast as she could towards the battle.

The Charr seemed to be breaking through however. The warriors could not keep them all at bay, and many of them were heading straight towards the grand citadel of Rin. Kaska reached the gate, where there was none other than Carter Reeves, firing arrows at every human in sight. In all the confusion, no-one but Kaska seemed to notice him.

Reeves spotted her and directed his fire towards her. She pulled out her swords and began to walk calmly towards him, an evil grin crossing her face. He fired, and she deflected his arrow easily. He reloaded and fired again, but he missed by a considerable amount. Carter then began to back away from her in fear as she came within ten feet of him. Kaska lunged with one sword, which he tried to dodge, but it pierced his stomach. From the place that the sword had penetrated his skin, a horrid stone like texture began to spread.

"Let's see if your 'friends' bother to save you." She whispered as he fell to the ground, turning slowly to stone. She looked down at him with a pitiless expression on her face, satisfied.

The battle was over; the morning sun was rising in the east, staining the sky with scarlet. There had been heavy losses, but Bonfaaz Burntfur's corpse was lying at the foot of the staircase which led to Rin's citadel. The King was slowly walking down the stairs towards his son, who was knelt down with his head bowed.

"Rise my prince." He said in a deep voice. The king was around the same height as Rurik, however he was grey haired from aging, and his face was lined.

"My King…" Rurik began, getting to his feet, "…we must not delay any longer. We must evacuate Ascalon and head for Kryta, there we can begin a new life free of these terrible beasts…"

"Rurik… we have dealt these Charr a terrible blow. They will think twice before attacking with such a force again."

"Father!" Rurik shouted, cutting him off, "We must not underestimate them, they are a considerable force in battle, we will not be able to withstand another attack. We must flee!"

"You overestimate these beasts Rurik! I will never allow Ascalonians to live in the shadow of the Krytans!" He walked up to Rurik, menace etched in every line of his face, "…and you will learn your place."

"You have grown proud and foolish!" Rurik screamed at his father, "Proud and foolish, Adelbern!"

The King looked too shocked for words. He raised his sword to Rurik's face. "You are banished from the kingdom of Ascalon, under pain of death." He looked around and the remnants of the army who defended the wall, "…does anyone else think their king a fool!"

There was a stunned silence. Then, slowly, Kaska moved forward. The King looked at her with as much hatred as he had done his own son, but then, Carrie also moved forward, followed by Seregei, Blaze, Alesia, Eva and many many others. In total, around a hundred people had stepped forward, many of whom were civilians from the city of Rin who had also been in the on looking crowd.

Rurik looked at his father. "May fortune be with you in the war against these beasts, Adelbern of Ascalon. I however, shall lead these people to Kryta for a new life, free of the Charr."

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A/N- So it is times like these that we intend to stray from the beaten path of gws so to speak. Let us know what you thought in a review, concrit appreciated!

R&A&M


	13. Mountain Trail

So anyways here's the story, we couldn't find the chapter for months on end finally finding it on my old computer in the dark ages before I got a laptop. Sorry for our stupidity! Lol. Anyways chapter fourteen is already written so there won't be a huge waiting time in between this one and the next, enjoy!

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**Chapter 13 **

** Mountain Trail**

As the group of Ascalonians neared the boarder that separated their once beloved land and the cold bitter looming mountains, a chill swept among them.

"We have to cross the mountains to get to Kryta on the other side." Rurik addressed his subjects. He took one long last glance at the ruins of his home before shaking his head trying to shake the nostalgia that filled his mind.

Another huge gust swept, much more powerful than the last. Shivers shot through everyone, their clothing wasn't suited to this type of weather. The prince looked at them all, the majority of them rooted to the spot, too cold to move.

"Blaze, Carrie, Kaska, Seregei." He called over.

All four motioned over. "Yes my prince?" Seregei asked.

"There are a lot of us. I need to make sure no one gets left behind as we have a long treck." He turned to Carrie and Blaze. "I want you both to be positioned at the front of the group. See if you can find anyway to clear the snow off the path and perhaps to make it less bitter."

They nodded, proceeding to where Captain Calhaan was stood. Rurik spoke to the other two. "I want you both at the rear of the group. Make sure everyone keeps up and no one loses pace. Would it be possible to summon bone minions in this condition?" He asked.

Seregei went to answer but Kaska cut through. "If there are any corpses around then yes, it won't be a problem." He sighed at her silently before asking. "Why do you ask?"

"So you have reinforcements in case anything should try to tag along." Rurik justified.

"As you wish my Prince."

They parted company. As Rurik returned beside Calhaan, Carrie and Blaze were deep in discussion.

"... Clear the snow that way, then would it be possible for you to create an air barrier around the group?" Blaze asked.

"There is no guarantee that will keep them warm, the children won't last long, I can only suggest creating fire lit torches for everyone to hold, that might help." She replied.

"Then that's what we will do." Rurik cut in. "We will rest here for a while until we can find enough."

Blaze lit the final torch. Smiling at the young boy who was holding it. Returning to Carrie's side, they set off into the cold blizzard.

Throughout the start of the journey his eyes glowed red as he summoned fire balls from the already lit torches, throwing them into the snow making it transform into puddles of water. Every time wind was sent their way Carrie blocked it with a force of a gale and sent back at it. So far their methods were working.

Rurik and Calhaan were discussing where the group would rest. "Yaks bend is our next stop it shouldn't take as long to get there." Commented Calhaan.

"We should be there by nightfall. I'm just hoping the dwarves will be hospitable and allow us to stay." Rurik said expressing concern.

Kaska and Seregei were travelling with a few bone minions they had managed to salvage from slowly rotting corpses which had died from the sheer cold. One of the civilians watched in amusement as Kaska resurrected another.

"What are you looking at?" Kaska snapped, causing the young man to turn sharply the other way.

"I think he was looking at you." Seregei teased.

"Pah!" She retorted. "I'd sooner eat him!"

Seregei chuckled. He could tell Kaska was in a bad mood. But it didn't take much for her to turn sour. "What's wrong then grumpy guts?"

She snarled back at him. "Would you rather I eat you then!"

"Ok, ok, I'm just asking." He looked at her closely, noticing she was shivering. "I'll be back in a second." He explained, running to catch up with the group.

Catching up with Blaze, he asked. "Do you have anymore of those sticks you could light up; Kaska is feeling the cold a little bit."

"Sure." The Elementalist replied. Handing him two sticks for him to light on the way back.

"Thanks." He replied, just as he was about to head off. Carrie called his name.

Seregei spun round as Carrie passed him two flasks. "Here, its fresh water from the mountains, you may need it later."

He smiled at his friends, turning and walking against the direction of the group to join his fellow Necromancer.

"Where did you disappear off too?" She asked upon his return.

"Here this should keep you warm and hydrated; I dare say we will need these. Well I know I do, I feel like a frozen Popsicle!" He exclaimed. Handing her the torch and flask.

Kaska started to grin. "Thanks."

"Your welcome, does this mean you will revoke that threat you made about eating me earlier?" He said jokingly.

"Hmmm." She thought out loud. "Don't push your luck. You're not off the hook that easy."

He sighed deeply. Resigning himself to the fact that for the moment there was nothing else he could really do to please Kaska, so would let her calm down in her own time.

Carrie was abruptly stopped by Blaze; she turned to look at him puzzled. "What is it?" She asked him curiously.

Blaze didn't return her look, but moved his arm which pointed straight in front of them. She gasped.

A pack of wolves were standing in front of them snarling and growling. There must have been around twenty to thirty of them and they looked rather hungry. Blaze looked behind them, the others were only around the corner and the civilians would panic and run if they saw the grey beasts.

"I'll go stop them from getting any closer, you keep your eye on these wolves, signal if they make any sudden moves." Blaze instructed, and then hurried off back toward the rest of the caravan, which Prince Rurik was leading.

"What is it?" Rurik inquired as the elementalist approached him.

"Slight problem..." Blaze began, keeping his voice down so the nearby civilians did not hear him, "...wolf pack up ahead, couple of dozen of them. Need a few more people to take them down, make sure the caravan doesn't go any further."

Rurik nodded, not pressing the matter for any further detail. Blaze on the other hand was already making his way through the caravan to Eva, who was currently idle with her stalker at her side. He explained the situation, and then continued. By the time he reached Kaska and Seregei, there were around ten of them.

"Why doesn't Carrie just freeze them all?" Kaska asked in a very annoyed tone.

"Can't risk exhaustion, not in these conditions." Blaze answered as they approached Carrie, who had hardly moved the entire time.

Carrie gave them the slightest half glance as they approached, apparently she didn't dare to take her eyes off of the wolves for more than a split second. "If we take two each this should be quick and easy."

As expected, the fight was not much of a challenge with the amount of manpower they had behind them. It seemed that only a handful of the beasts reached the group for close combat, which was dealt with swiftly by a very formidable looking warrior.

"Next time Carrie..." Kaska began, animating two fiends at once from the nearest wolf corpse, "...only call if there is something dangerous won't you?"

At that precise moment, a wolf pounced on Kaska out of nowhere. It launched its teeth at her face, but she was too quick and threw her hands at its jaws, holding it back. "Do something! Do I look like I'm enjoying this!" Every word seemed to cost her a terrible effort.

An axe swung with such force at the wolf, it was thrown into a nearby rock. Kaska looked up and saw someone kneeling beside her. On closer inspection, she saw that the person was in fact not kneeling at all, they were merely extremely short.

"And that!" Began the dwarf, exclaiming loudly, "Was without ANY ale! I amaze me'self sometimes." He offered his hand to Kaska, which she refused, getting to her feet hurriedly.

"Great, saved by a dwarf..." She said, menace in her hushed voice, "...oh well, at least it's only a 'small' wound on my pride" Chuckling, she walked away, muttering to Seregei. "I can't stand dwarves!"

"Thanks wudda bin nice, but that'll do. Dorlik is the name, and this ere..." He gestured to another dwarf who had a short-bow slung over his shoulder, "...is me brother Argant. Spotted ye a while off, bin following ya for a while we ave, aven't we Arg!"

"Aye!" Argant replied, "Bin wonderin what the tall legs in the fancy ancy geddup were doin treddin through the shivers of this ere place, ya get me?"

"Not really..." Kaska replied, "...once more in English would be nice."

"What he meant was..." The dwarf Dorlik began, "...what are ya doin in the shiverpeaks? Shuddn't ya be back in that nice ol' city of yours?"

"I don't think that is any of your business dwarf!" Kaska spat at him.

"What's going on?" Prince Rurik had entered the scene. He looked around for a second, taking in the new faces that had appeared.

"Ya hey there!" Dorlik boomed, addressing the Prince, "Just askin' the little missus here a simple question, you must be Rurik of Ascalon!"

"How do you know..." The prince began, but Kaska cut in before he could finish.

"Who the hell are you calling little pal?" She started towards him, "That's like your beard calling your hair bushy!"

"Kaska!" The Prince warned, and she stopped her advance at once. "How you know me perhaps is not relevant," he continued, addressing the dwarf once more, "right now I must ask you, is there anywhere safe nearby where we can resupply and shelter for the night? The day has been long and strenuous."

"Where're ya headed?" Argant asked.

"To Kryta, we mean to head to Yaks Bend for the night, but I fear it is too far for our caravan to manage." Rurik looked solemn at the thought.

"Well if ya keep taking the route yer on now that would be true." Argant said with a slight grin creeping onto his face. "Come with me n' me brother ere, we will get ya there in no time, know these mountains like a flagon of ale don't we Dorl?"

"Aye! Gather yer caravan human prince, we'll see ya to Yaks Bend!" Rurik retreated back to where the rest of the civilians were, and a few minutes later returned, followed by the caravan.

Night was upon them as the group entered the quiet settlement that was Yak's Bend. Carrie and Blaze were amongst the first to enter. They looked around, taking everything in. They could have counted the number of houses they saw on their fingers alone, there were so few of them. Despite this low number of shelters however, the place seemed to be bustling with far more dwarves than the place could accommodate for. In the middle of the site, there was a campfire where half a dozen dwarves were seated on the cold floor, each with empty flagons surrounding them, and half full ones in their small pudgy hands.

The rest of the caravan had made it into the settlement. The wooden gates which they had entered through closed behind them. Two dwarves were stationed on small lookout posts either side of the gate, no doubt to spot any oncoming wolves or trolls which dwelled in the mountains.

"If it weren't so cold I would be sure that this was hell." Kaska stated, looking at all of the dwarves with a disgusted expression on her face. She did not however make any hostile advances, as she was clearly outnumbered.

"Would you lighten up a bit please?" Seregei interjected. "These people have just helped us, the least you could do is show them a little bit of gratitude."

Kaska snorted and walked away from him towards Carrie and Blaze. Seregei was left at the back of the large group. Prince Rurik was to be found walking towards the biggest of all the shelters that had been erected in the settlement, followed by Eva.

"You trust these dwarves sire?" Eva asked as they approached the building. They were following Dorlik.

"Long ago," The prince began, not looking at her, "there was an old alliance between humans and dwarves, this alliance was never broken, but the ties between us I fear have weakened. If we can strengthen those ties, I believe that our journey through the mountains will be much swifter."

"But do you trust them my lord?" Eva repeated, spotting that she had not got an answer.

"I trust all those who help us." They had reached the shelter.

Dorlik opened the door and went inside. Rurik and Eva had to bend a considerable amount in order to get inside. The room was brightly lit and had a very strong smell of alcohol which was enough to intoxicate anyone. Sitting behind a low table in the far end of the room, was undoubtedly the leader of the settlement. He was wearing the finest fur out of all of them, and looked the best kept appearance wise, or perhaps he was just more sober.

Rurik inclined his head slightly as a greeting, Eva followed suit. "Greetings, my name is Rurik of Ascalon. May I thank you for your hospitality."

"Hale human!" The dwarf replied, getting to his feet, which considering his height did not make much of a difference. He too inclined his head at the pair of them. "The names Jova, I'm in charge 'ere at Yaks, heard there was humans in the mountains I did. Good thing me boys here found ya aye?"

"Indeed, I fear we would not have survived the night." Rurik replied, Eva gave him an evil look.

"Exactly, not relevant now though aye? Yer here, that's what matters. Now lemme ask you human, what brings you to the shiverpeaks?" Rurik noticed that Jova spoke with a lot more clarity than the other dwarves.

"There has been a Charr invasion on Ascalon." He began, "The numbers are too great, my caravan and I are those who believe that seeking a new life in Kryta is the only way forward now."

"A wise move human prince." Jova agreed.

The door to the shelter opened, and Carrie entered the room. Rurik looked over at her, but did not stop his conversation with Jova.

"We need to resupply, there is much distance left between us and the gates of Kryta. Do you have anything you can spare for us?"

Carrie had reached Eva and the prince now. She seemed to be taking in the appearance of the building. Remaining silent, she looked over at Jova, who seemed to be eyeing her with curiosity.

"I can spare a few men to see ya through the mountains safely. We know this place better than most, and if ya ran into the stone summit..." Jova suddenly sounded very weary, "...well, let's just hope that don't happen aye? Don't bare thinkin' about it."

"Do you have any clothing you can spare to keep us warm? We are not used to the harsh conditions of the mountains." Eva asked. Even in the shelter she still looked frozen to the bone.

"We have many furs left over, ye can have them." Jova replied simply, he then turned to Carrie. "It seems that you lass, don't need such things." He looked very puzzled, "how can ye walk around in such garments and still be alive?"

Carrie's assortment of armour was very thin, not something which would keep the average human being warm. "I have studied water elements more closely than I have others, my body has compensated for the cold respectively. However, in the opposite condition, heat, I doubt my body would cope so well, hence the thin clothing."

"Fascinating..." Jova replied, looking back at the prince. "...You do keep incredible company Rurik."

Many more bonfires had been lit around the campsite to make up for the amount of people now dwelling in Yaks Bend. Many of the civilians it seemed were trying to regain sleep round the warm flames, whereas those who were still too pumped full of adrenaline were drinking with and talking to the dwarves. Amongst those still awake were Carrie, Blaze and Seregei, who were situated round the largest campfire. Blaze it seemed was grateful for the large quantity of fire. Also in their company were Prince Rurik, Jova, and the two brothers Argant and Dorlik.

"If ye want to get to Kryta, the frost gate is yer best chance." Jova started, looking directly at the prince. "Not all yer men are like this ere lass," he gestured at Carrie, "any other route an ye would freeze to death in no time."

"Only problem is," Began Dorlik, "the stone summit are mostly in control of the frost gate. Gettin' past them won't be no easy task, you'd best be prepared."

"Tell us more about the stone summit..." Carrie implored.

"Ah!" Argant exclaimed, "If we were to do that lassy all of our here barrels of ale would be dry time we be gettin' to the end."

"Speakin' of which." Dorlik piped up, "how 'bout a drinkin' contest, see how good you humans are at holdin' yer liqueur!"

The entire party round the campfire laughed, and to the surprise of Carrie and Blaze, Seregei was next to say...

"Ok, I'm for it."

"Excellent!" Dorlik replied, producing from nowhere two full flagons of ale for himself and Seregei. "Last one standin' wins!"

The game went on for quite some time, during which Rurik continued to talk to Jova, pressing him for details on how best to outwit the stone summit once they reached the frost gate. The whole plan sounded simple, however he was sure that putting it into practice would be something else altogether.

"An' that's why my arm told me I was destined to be a god!" Dorlik said with glee, picking up another flagon of ale.

"How big is the stone summit force?" Carrie asked.

"No-one knows lass." Jova replied. "I doubt even their leader knows, they are everywhere them summit, too many to count."

"An' I told that deathly swarm to get out or be chucked out!" Seregei boomed, picking up another ale.

"How many have they had?" Blaze asked Argant, who seemed to be watching the game avidly.

"I lost count ten minutes ago me lad." He replied, not taking his eyes off the game.

"I'll tell you what we've had!" Seregei said so loudly that Kaska, who was sleeping nearby, woke up. "We have had...not enough!" His voice was extremely slurred.

"Someone gonna fill me in?" Kaska asked the group at large.

Seregei and Dorlik both downed another ale, and Dorlik spoke. "You sir, are most good at this game of drinking!" He sounded delighted.

"Oh gods..." Kaska muttered as they both downed yet another ale, "...don't tell me he..."

"Yes!" Seregei boomed at her, "...and may I say Kuska..."

"Kaska."

"Kaska!" Seregei corrected himself. "That this ale tastes very very fine, and I won't have you judging me on such a fine thing in life, cause Kuska..."

"Kaska."

"I think I loooo..." and with that, he passed out.

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A/N- With our FF7 fic out the way we should be able to finish this one fairly quickly, so keep a weather eye out on the horizon people! Reviews appreciated as always, til next time!

R&A&M


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